Hugs, the Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
by kathey'ssis
Summary: The next instalment in the lives of Mike and Laura, Their boys are gowing bigger and are starting to learn how to do a few things by their ownselves. But Daddy still has a dangerous Job and so Does mommy sometimes. This is a story of the life and times of working parents.
1. Chapter 1 Daddy boy day at work

Boy Days at Daddy's Work

It was the end of shift at Station 51 and the A crew were giving report to B shift before going to change into their street clothes.

Since Mike was well rested and their day care person, JoAnne Desoto, had one child coming down with what looked like strep throat that had been going through the neighborhood, Mike was going to take care of his identical offspring for the day. Since Laura had her monthly early morning meeting of the Emergency Action Committee she needed to drop the boys off at the station on her way to her meeting.

The draft pump on the engine had been acting up this shift and the mechanic didn't have time to look at it so Mike was giving his successor a detailed description of the problem and what had been done so far, telling him what he was told to watch for and what to tell the mechanic when he did arrive. Mike was in the middle of this briefing when his wife stepped into the bay carrying the diaper bag on her shoulder and holding the hands of the two year old Stoker twin boys.

As soon as the two boys saw their father they started tugging at the hold their mother had on their hands. Mike stooped down and spread his arms out in an invitation to come to him and Laura released the two hands she was holding tightly allowing the two boys to run, not walk, into their father's arms.

After a quick hug Mike looked at his two boys. "Daddy needs to talk with this man, so can you stand right next to me for a minute and then I'll let you go look at the fire engine."

Both boys gave an eager nod of their heads and as soon as Mike stood up again both boys wrapped their arms around Mike's two knees and held on tight.

"You can go ahead and go," Mike assured Laura knowing that her meeting was important. "If we were to get a call now the next shift is here to take it."

Laura Stoker was assured by not only Mike but the rest of his outgoing crewmates that all would be fine and each one of the men promised to hang around to help with the boys for the few minutes it would take to give his report to the next shift.

Checking her watch Laura smiled and with a wave to her boys and a, "Now you boys be good for Daddy," admonition, Laura set the diaper bag on the floor next to the office and was on her way.

Laura had no sooner pulled out of the drive when young Gregory reached up and tugged at his father's pocket to get his attention.

"Potty," was all he said but that was enough to get Mike to blush the same color as the squad he was currently standing next to.

Knowing that Mike had some important information to pass on Roy stepped forward, "would you let Uncle Roy take you to the potty while Daddy talks to this man?"

Roy had hoped that since his wife was taking care of the boys while both Mike and Laura worked that they would feel safe with him and allow him to take them to the potty in place of their father. His nose also told him that it was likely too late but he knew from experience that it was best to take the child to the potty anyway to get them in the habit.

"No! Daddy boy day," Gregory answered tightening his hold on his father's knee, and Mike knew he needed to take his boys by the hand and run.

The Stokers were just starting into this world of potty training and so far it was hit and miss, mostly miss, as to whether the deposits made it to their mark. Most often it was the boys' way of telling a parent that they wanted their diaper changed.

It was no real surprise when Chet sauntered out of the locker room in search of the diaper bag. It was also no real surprise, to the married men on both platoons at least, that Chet stopped by the supply closet on his way back and picked up the bucket of latrine cleaning supplies.

It was Roy who stepped in to help clean up the latrine since he knew how important the conversation was that Mike was having with the next shift's engineer. When he stepped into the locker room Roy walked into a potty party.

"Hey that was great Gregory, you got the poopoo in the potty, yaaaah," Mike cheered as he was standing in the open door of one of the bathroom stalls holding his young son under his arms to keep him from falling in the adult sized toilet. On the floor at his feet was a hastily removed diaper filled with a lot of smelly brown substance but Mike had apparently managed to lift him fast enough so that he was able to add the remainder of his deposits in the proper receptacle.

Meanwhile in the next stall little Mikey had managed to drop his own diaper down around one ankle and was dutifully taking hold of his little fire hose. He wasn't quite tall enough to reach the toilet bowl but that didn't seem to really matter since his actions were more of a sweeping motion of a fire fighter not a well aimed target shooter.

Roy was actually very glad that they were 'daddy's boys today'. He was looking forward to a restful afternoon reading stories to and taking a nap with his sick daughter. He was becoming very aware that his time to do those things was rapidly coming to a close. Chris was already too old to do such things with his father and Jennifer was in agreement that she was too, except when she felt totally crappy like she did today.

Roy pulled out the container of premoistened wipes and handed them to Mike who managed to wipe up his son's backside and the toilet seat before stepping back to see the little puddle his other son had made for him to clean up.

Roy had to give it to his crew mate though; Mike just proceeded to throw another potty party for his other son and promised them both popsicles on the way home for going potty like big boys.

In short order both boys had clean dry diapers fastened to their bottoms. Little Mikey had managed to get his diaper wet in his sweep of the bathroom stall. Both soiled diapers were placed in a plastic bag that was quickly tied shut and ran to the outside dumpster before it was picked up that morning. When he got back Mike found Roy mopping up the latrine pausing only to wave Mike off to finish his conversation with the next shift's engineer. Both boys were quick to wrap their arms and legs around each of Mike's legs and he proceeded to walk back to his conversation lifting the giggling boys with each step.

The two boys remained attached to their father's legs while Mike finished giving the information he had to share and then as promised the boys were given a chance to see the fire engine up close. First the boys ran up to the engine and stood by the front wheel. When Mike caught up to them each boy was turned around and backed up to the front tire and a hand was placed at the top of their head and then they were pulled away to see how tall they were getting.

It was amazing how much the boys had grown since their birth. They weighed in at around three pounds each when they were born now they reached the top of the rim of the engine's front tire.

"When you're this tall," Mike pointed to the first foot hold on the fire engine, "You can get up into the cab and sit behind the wheel and pull the fire siren." Mike gave his young offspring something to look forward to. The goal was still a good foot and a half above the boys' heads.

Roy didn't say it but he knew that time was coming faster than even Mike realized it would. Before they left each boy took turns wrapping their arms around the edge of the tire and giving the fire engine a hug then went off with their daddy to get their popsicles for going potty.


	2. Chapter 2 Boy Days at home

Boy Days at Home

After the boys were strapped into the car seats in the back of their mother's car they were on their way to the nearest drive up that Mike knew would have popsicles. When the boys were born Mike and Laura didn't own a vehicle that was suited for the babies' car seats. Since both Mike and Laura knew the immense safety value of child seats and that they worked best in the back seat of a car, they put Laura's convertible, a prized family heirloom in the garage and purchased a four door sedan. They referred to it as mommy's car but in truth it was the boys' car, which ever parent was in charge of the boys took the car with the boy's seats in it while the other drove the truck. Whenever Laura would drop off the boys at the station she would always leave with Mike's truck, whenever she picked the boys up, whether from the babysitter, usually JoAnne DeSoto or from the fire station, she would always leave in the car and leave Mike's truck for him to drive while he didn't have the boys.

With the boys rewarded in a timely manner he then proceeded home by way of the grocery store where he bought two large bags of popsicles for later treating. Once home he unbuckled his children to find that most of the popsicles were all over them and the car seats before hurrying in to put the other popsicles in the freezer before they melted. That's when he noticed there were already two bags of popsicles in the freezer. Apparently he wasn't the only one thinking optimistically.

The boys were then quickly changed from their popsicled clothes and the car seats and car were washed up before Mike engaged his boys in helping him with chores around the house.

Letting the boys help him with the household chores always took about four times longer than it would to just do it himself but if he wasn't letting them help they could get into all kinds of trouble while he did them alone. Besides it was kind of fun to hold one boy around the waist as he dove head first into the washing machine to pull out the wet clothes and hand them to his brother so he could put them in the dryer. The hard part was remembering who had washer duty last so that he could make sure the other brother got his turn. When it came to vacuuming the floors each boy had their own toy vacuum cleaners so they all just walked along side either daddy or mommy while they vacuumed. There were several crashes as the boys would try to cut Mike off or beat him to a particular corner of the room that left Mike wondering if he ever wanted to let the boys get their drivers license but so far none of the vacuum housings have been cracked or dented so he'd continue to let the boys help. Even though they had found toy mops for the boys, that was still one of the chores that was best done while the boys were napping or just after they had gone to bed for the night. The same could be said about cleaning the bathroom; whenever water was involved the boys didn't get much cleaning done but were able to make quite a mess.

With the chores done it was time to play, and playing at the Stoker household ment playing firemen. Now some folk might think this is too much like bringing work home for Daddy Mike but he didn't feel that way when his boys pulled out their outside fire trucks that Laura had found for their first birthdays. They were close to four feet long and big enough for the boys to ride on them. The boys made them go by pushing with their feet as they sat in the saddle type seat on the top and they could hook up a garden hose to the back of them to make sure there was enough water to use the sprayer devices on them.

Mike had acquired a three way hose splitter for the backyard hose bib so that all three of them could have a water source and the last chore of the morning, watering the yard, was accomplished firefighter style. Laura's pots of blooming flowers were the fire's they put out and when that was done Big Mike saw to it that they had a hazardous materials drill and they hosed each other down good to wash off all of the imaginary chemicals along with the mud and grass clippings they managed to get all over themselves, and cool off good in the summer heat.

While they were getting out of their wet clothes was as good as time as any to have a potty drill and all three of the Stoker boys spent some time with their own potties.

Mike had been making it a practice the last week or so, to take the boys with him to the potty at least twice a day, so that they could see how things were supposed to be done and where stuff was supposed to go. Sometimes the younger Stokers made a deposit, but most of the time so far, the potty drills were after the fact.

After the potty drill and everyone was washed up and in clean dry clothes once again, it was time for lunch. When Big Mike was on Daddy duty that meant that everyone was on KP duty and the boys each made their own bologna sandwich. Well Daddy did have to help them unwrap the plastic from their slice of cheese and all of the condiments were placed in small squeeze bottles so with a little supervision the boys were able to do the rest. One slice of bologna for each of the boys, six slices for Daddy cuz he was bigger.

Once lunch was consumed and the boys carried their plates and juice glasses over to help daddy put them in the dishwasher it was time for a nap.

On Daddy boy days that ment they would all climb in Daddy's big bed together. The boys would get their special blankets and little stuffed dolls and then lay down on Mommy and Daddy's big bed to snuggle with Daddy. There was a round of tickles and giggles and a few wiggles but after the fun play and hard working drills all day the boys were soon asleep. Daddy was soon asleep too.

After a couple of hours the increased squirms at his side brought Mike from the land of dreams. He was able to lay still and watch his boys begin their waking process as he finished his. There was dinner to be fixed and some more play, he was sure, before their mother got home but right now a slight urge told him it was time for another potty drill.

Mike had no trouble holding on until the boys finished waking up but as soon as their eyes were open he started herding them off to the bathroom where their two miniature potty's sat positioned between the big potty and the bathtub. Mike's reading on the subject had suggested that when the child was just waking up was the best time to find success in getting deposits in the proper receptacle.

Mike started by loosening one side of each of the diapers and dropping them to the floor before doing his part to show the boys how things should be done.

Little Gregory followed Daddy's example and stood next to the little potty determined to be his. As he stood there a small brown blob descended to the floor behind him as Daddy looked on in dismay.

'Note to self: there is no shame in going potty like a girl, at least when the boys were around, until the boys got the idea as to which opening their deposits were coming from.'

Mike managed to sit little Mikey down who was still struggling to completely wake up. He soon felt his ankle getting wet and noticed that Mikey's little hose wasn't tucked in.

As Mike was working to help the young boy tuck himself in he realized that there was a place to attach a little cuppy thing that he had found in the box with the potties. He hadn't wanted to attach the things when he first opened the boxes because he feared hurting the tender portions of his sons' anatomies

'Note to self: attach little cuppy thingys to little potties ASAP.' "

'Next note to self: be careful lifting them onto their potties once the cuppy thingys are in place.'

After the required cleaning up and redressing, followed by the required popsicle potty treats Mike set about starting dinner and tried hard to think of a safe way for his son's to help so that they wouldn't get into trouble while he was cooking.

Fortunately they were happy to play on their indoor fire engines, just as big as the outdoor fire engines but they didn't have hoses or hose attachments so no actual water was involved, just pretend water. Mike smiled as they moved in on the recliner from opposite sides and used the attached hose that looked more like a coiled phone cord, to spray on the imaginary fire while they made the spraying sounds with their puckered mouths.

By the time Mike had the simple macaroni and cheese casserole in the oven, cooking for his sons was simpler than cooking for the fire crew, one of the boys had moved from the toy fire engine to the corner next to the book shelf where he sat on a small chair there and looked at each page of his chosen picture book with great interest. Soon the second twin was sitting in the chair next to him and it was almost as if they were reading the book to each other.

Mike leaned back against the counter and drained his glass of water as he watched his boys. The language they were talking to each other was nothing he had ever heard before but they sure seemed to understand each other.

As Mike watched his sons his mind turned back to a few months before when he was worried about his son's language skills. He remembered when he first met young Jessica and how he had marveled in her ability to communicate like an adult squashed in a small body. At that time Mike was sure the difference between Jessica at that age and his son's was his added DNA. After brooding about it for a while Laura had finally managed to get him to open up.

After listening to her husband pour out his feelings of inadequacy and low quality DNA, Laura proceeded to explain that Carlos and Malinda had insisted that no one talk baby talk to Jessica while she was growing up and that there were no other children around so her only interactions were with older people, which, as Laura explained it, was why she acted and spoke like a little adult.

Their twins had each other to talk to and because they had spent their entire life so far practicing their unperfected language skills on each other, they were being a little slower than Jessica at least in mastering the English language. And since the boys were in effect teaching each other to speak they were experiencing a condition known as 'Twin Talk', where they did understand each other even when no one else could. Both Laura and their pediatrician seemed unworried. The parents were encouraged to continue to communicate with the boys and read to them often and were assured that the boys would grow out of it before they were old enough to start school.

Mike's thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

Mike stepped across the room walking blindly as he kept his eyes on his boys at all times. He gave a quick glance at the phone when his first attempt to grab it missed its mark. With his eyes guiding him he was able to quickly pick it up and then his eyes quickly returned to his sons as he pulled the hand set to his mouth and ear before reciting the required, "Hello, this is the Stoker residence."

The phone call turned out to be from his counterpart at the station, who had called to give him a report about the results after the department mechanic, Charlie, had managed to make time to look at the pumps on the engine. The caller proceeded to give Mike a full report of the damage, suspected cause of the damage, the required repairs, and needed special handling in the future before letting out his frustration with the greater than thou department mechanic who believes that if they could just get rid of firemen, **HIS** engines would be much better off.

Most of the quotes that were started Mike was able to finish before the guy on the line completed them showing he understood well how the guy was feeling. Somewhere along the line he lost sight of his son's and turned more of his complete attention to the phone and the caller on the other end. It was only for five minutes, ten at the very most. Yeah ten minutes at the very most, that Mike hadn't watched every movement his son's made.

His attention was drawn back to his current charges, when one of his sons bumped into the chair he was sitting in with his fire engine before climbing on top of it to be able to climb on the arm of the chair and then into his father's lap.

Daddy was given a big hug and then little Mikey made the announcement, "Pooped."

Mikes nose had to agree, "You most certainly are," and then he began to look for the other half of his charges.

Not able to see Gregory close at hand Mike quickly ended his phone call and then lifting a stinky Mikey down on the floor took him by the hand and started to look for the other twin.

Gregory was quickly found in the book case corner sitting in one of his little chairs looking over a picture book taking time to study each page before he turned to the next, totally naked from the waist down.

"Gregory, where is your diaper?" Mike questioned with both shock and shear amazement.

Gregory looked up at his father with a surprised look and then down at himself as if he had no idea he wasn't wearing his diaper.

"Ah gone," Gregory singsonged and went back to looking at his book.

"I can see that." Mike tried real hard to keep the agitation out of his voice. "But where is it all gone to?"

Gregory looked down at himself once more then up at his daddy, "Ah gone," and shrugged his shoulders.

Mike gave the room a quick scan looking for a wayward diaper and when he didn't see one he gently took the book from Gregory's hands and announced, "Potty drill."

Relieved that the chair he was sitting on wasn't a mess, Mike took both boys by the hands and led them to the bathroom. Gregory was quickly sat down on the potty, being careful that he didn't get hurt on the little cuppy thingy. Mikey was laid down on a folded towel and his diaper was removed and placed in a plastic bag before he was quickly cleaned up and placed on his little potty with the same caution as his brother had been.

After a few minutes of sitting and wiggling on the potty, Mike decided that now was as good a time as any to give the boys their bath and started to run the bath water before pulling the top part of their clothing off of each child and lifting both boys in the tub. With six inches of water and a little bubble bath the boys were quickly scrubbed from head to toe and then allowed to splash and play with each other for a few moments. Until Mike heard the timer announcing that the casserole in the oven was done.

Mike argued with himself, for a moment or two, whether or not he dared to leave the boys in the bathtub and just run and turn the oven off and take the casserole out before he admitted that he didn't dare leave them alone for even that long and started to pull each boy out of the tub and wrap a towel around each of them before racing to the kitchen. There he found his wife had returned home from work and was taking dinner out of the oven so he quickly returned to his wet sons to find both boys peeing on each other.


	3. Chapter 3 Mommy's Home

Mommy's Home

Mike sunk to his knees in exasperation and Laura managed to look around the corner of the bathroom door just in time to see the waterworks before they were over. Together they lifted the boys back into the tub and washed them down again then after clean fresh diapers were applied Mike took his boys off to their room to get them in their pajamas while Laura scooped up the wet towels and bath mat and headed for the laundry room.

When Mike herded his pajama clad boys into the kitchen for their dinner Laura leaned out of the laundry room holding a diaper suspended, and swinging, from two fingers.

"Care to explain this to me?" Laura asked with one of her 'I can't wait to hear this story' smiles on her face.

"Where did you find it?" Mike asked with a totally embarrassed cringe on his face.

"In the dryer," Laura responded, twisting her face up but keeping a grin on it still the same, "along with a load of what I'm sure were once clean clothes."

The shame on Mike's face deepened as he lifted his two sons into their high chairs one by one and strapped them in. "I'll go put them all back in the wash." Mike accepted what he thought was just punishment.

"I got a phone call from work, it only lasted five minutes, ten minutes at the most," Mike tried to explain, "I thought they stayed right in the room the whole time."

When Mike stepped up to the door of the laundry room Laura dropped her find in the diaper pail near the door and wrapped her arms around her frustrated husband planting a kiss on his lips.

"They're already back in the wash. Did you know that ammonia is a great laundry additive to whiten your clothes and that urine is loaded with ammonia?"

Mike managed to smirk and Laura tightened her hold around his chest while she looked him in the eyes. "I bet you had no idea there would be days like this while you were getting me pregnant."

"No, I can't say that I had any idea there could possibly be days like this." Mike pulled Laura tight against his chest and pulled some of her calm into him before looking at the boys.

"It's probably a good thing I didn't know about days like this before hand, I'd have had myself castrated and joined a monastery." Mike took in a cleansing breath and let out a lot of tension as he blew it out. "They are cute kids if I do say so myself. I'm sure they'll catch on to this potty training eventually," Mike moved in for a kiss then let out a relaxing sigh of relief. Still he wondered how many years it would take before his sons got this potty thing down.

"We better eat before dinner gets cold."

After dinner the boys were washed up yet again and their food covered bibs were added to the wash, as Mike thought more on the increased laundry loads they were doing these days. Mike then held one more potty drill before brushing their teeth and gathering his offspring at either side of him on the couch with a well loved bedtime story on his lap.

"_- But I'm not sleepy," Billy Bunny rubbed his eyes as his mother pushed him off to bed, "I want to check out the hill past the cow barn, I know there's treasure out there somewhere."_

"_In the morning," Momma Bunny said as she kept her little bunny going toward his bed, "Now it's time for sleep."_

"_But I want to swim," Davy duck told his father, "There are a lot of fish in the pond and some of them," Davy yawned before he could continue, "are starting to grow legs."_

"_Yeah Dad," Danny duck told his father, "some of them have front legs and some just have back legs. Mrs. Mallard said that when their legs are all grown their tails will fall off."_

"_Yeah, dad," Davy added, "We don't want to miss that."_

"_no more crowing tonight," mother hen spoke sternly._

"_But I need to practice," said little Rodger rooster._

"_Off to bed all of you," Mother sheep said in a loud irritated voice. "You're keeping my little lambs awake."_

"_But Dad," Davy and Danny said together_

"_Shhhh," Daddy duck said wrapping a wing around each of his sons._

Now Mike only needed the book so his sons could see the pictures he had read it enough to know the words by heart. Letting the book rest on his lap Mike hooked each arm around one of his sons and pulled them tight to his side, just as if there were ducklings being pulled under their parent's wings.

"_Cock a doodle do," Rodger rooster sang out,_

"_Shhhh," all the mothers turned to the little rooster. "It's time to go to sleep now."_

_And finally all was quiet except for the croaking toads and the crickets that sang a lullaby and everyone went to sleep."_

Finished with the story Mike showed off his firefighter's strength and holding the boys next to him like they were tucked under his wings Mike stood up. The two giggling boys were carried into their beds, Small beds that used the mattresses from their cribs. Those were plenty big for them now.

Each boy was laid in his own bed. Mommy had gone in ahead of daddy and pulled the blankets down. The ready for their sons to be asleep already parents, started to pull the blankets over their offspring when Gregory sat up and announced, "Potty Drill!"

Now Mike honestly suspected it was just his son's way of postponing bedtime but still, he couldn't not take them to the potty.

Getting two boys out of their one piece footed sleepers and then removing their diaper was awkward and resulted in him having two naked boys in front of him before they were ready to be put on the potty. As it was both boys managed to produce about a teaspoon each worth of urine so bed time was again postponed for a potty treat and a quick wash up as well as a fresh brushing of teeth and then once again the boys were scooped up in their father's arms and taken to their beds.

While Laura ran to move the laundry along, Mike covered his boys one by one and then one by one he reached under the blankets and grabbed their feet pulling them down in their beds. The blankets were then tucked around them and their stuffed animals were placed under their arms. For the boys it was Thing one and Thing two dolls from one of the Doctor Seuss books. Mike then patted each boy's head before bending over and giving each boy a kiss on the top of his head before he moved out of the room and turned off the light in the hallway.

Once the laundry was finished and folded Laura led Mike to their room where after a good back rub and a little snuggling they, too, were fast asleep.

The next day Laura didn't have to go to work until just before the boys bed time, with both parents around to run 'potty drills', they found much more success. Things really started to click after Big Mike got a potty treat and the boys didn't.

As hard as it was for Mike to eat his Popsicle in front of the boys, they got the message that if they wanted a reward they had to do something to get rewarded for.

Before Laura went to work the Stoker family went to the department store where they bought two piece pajamas and big boy training pants, for each of the boys. The boys were most excited about the pajamas that looked like fireman turn out gear.

After Laura left for work Mike examined the new undergarments. They were similar to briefs but without the front openings he was familiar with. Down the middle were several layers of what was reported as extra absorbent material for the inevitable accidents. Mike's first thoughts were of the inevitable messy accidents.

Once Laura was off to work Mike started the boy's bedtime routine but this time he ran his potty drill and awarded the subsequent treats before bedtime story. Things did go much more smoothly with that schedule of events.

The boys had just gone off to sleep and Mike was unwinding before joining them when JoAnne called. It seemed that Roy had just been diagnosed with strep throat and even though he didn't feel that bad he was considered quite contagious and being made to stay off for a shift to let the antibiotics kick in so that he wouldn't spread the infection to all of his patients or the rest of the crew.

A quick call to Laura and it was determined that Mike would take his boys with him to the fire station and Laura would meet him there to take them home.

Mike slept peacefully but set the alarm to get up earlier than usual. Once he was awake Mike went about getting ready for work quietly so he didn't wake the boys before he had to. He then loaded his duffel bag and the boys diaper bag in the car before going back in the house and carefully lifting the boys from their beds and carrying them both at the same time out to put them in their car seats.

The boys stirred slightly as he buckled them in but Mike told them that everything was alright and to go back to sleep and they did.

Mike drove more cautiously than usual trying to keep his boys asleep but still when he made the last turn before arriving at the station Little Mikey called out. "Daddy, where go?"

"Daddy's right here son," Mike managed to reach back with his hand and tussle his son's hair. "You're in the car." A quick check in the rear view mirror showed that his son was calming down and his other son was starting to stir opening his eyes to small slits but not really seeing anything yet.

"Mommy's going to be here to get you and your brother in just a minute." Mike continued to talk as he kept equal attention to the road ahead of him as he did the boys in the rearview mirror behind him as he pulled into the drive and parked behind the station. In spite of all the inadequacies and frustrations he was feeling in helping his sons master the art of potty training, Mike loved his sons and he loved being a father.

"Mommy boy day?" Mikey questioned his father.

"Yep," Mike turned with a smile for his son, "You're going to be Mommy's boys today."

There was still a little over half an hour before roll call and Mike was all ready in his uniform, his plan was to just sit in the car until his wife arrived and then he and she would do what was needed to exchange cars, kiss each other goodbye and then she'd drive off with the boys having never been taken out of their car seats. Unfortunately little Mikey was too awake for that.

"Daddy, Potty drill."

Captain Hookraider of C shift was just finishing up in the head when Mike hurried down the aisle between the rows of lockers, he had a boy in each arm and a diaper bag slung over his shoulder and his steps were akin to a fireman responding to an alarm.

Boys were set on their feet, the diaper bag dropped and then the boys' pajama bottoms and diapers were pulled off as one and left on the floor before each boy was lifted onto the toilet in the next stall.

Hank Stanley wandered in a moment later to get ready for his shift and witness the site of two small boys on the same toilet one looked slightly more awake than the other but both were taking care of business as his engineer instructed them on proper placement of their hoses. As Mike talked to his boys in excited congratulating tones he kept a hand under each boy's arm to keep them straddling on top of the toilet seat and not falling in.

Hookraider smiled at the site before him and looked over at Stanley. "You're engineer here is practicing to become a captain but I'm not so sure about the kind of drills he's running in his preparation for the stripped hat."

Mike started to turn a fun shade of crimson as Hank fought with all he had not to let out a full out laugh. "Laura just got here; she's in the bay waiting to take the boys." Hank reported as soon as he was able to gain some control.

Since the boys were finished with business Mike helped them to wipe up and was just putting the diaper and pajama bottoms back on one boy while the other wandered out into the bay still naked from the waist down to see his mother.

"I go poop in fire potty!" Little Gregory announced for all to hear. The all out laughter from the day room confirmed that he was heard loud and clear.

Because there was a fire fighter in the locker room changing clothes little Gregory was ushered back to get his diaper and pajama pants back on and while there, 'Uncle Capan Sanny' provided the potty treats. Just some little toys he had on the top shelf of his locker but the boys were happy. Mike then helped Laura reload the boys in the car and the two kissed hello and goodbye.

"Are you going to be able to keep up with the boys after working all night?" Mike questioned his tired wife.

"I'll manage," Laura smiled at the love of her life as she held him tight, "The last of the DeSoto family was diagnosed with Strep last night so it shouldn't be much longer. I think I'm going to start today out by taking the boys to one of those places that serves breakfast pancakes with the smiles on them made out of fruit and whipped cream."

Mike cringed, "I didn't pack any clothes, all they have is the pajamas their wearing."

"That's okay I think this place gives firemen discounts." Laura smirked as one of the boys in the back seat figured out how to get the whistle Uncle Capan Sanny gave them to sound off and soon the other boy learned from his brother.

"Be sure to thank Hank for the potty treats." Laura spoke sarcastically.

"I'll make sure he knows just how appreciative you are." Mike responded with a grin and another kiss.

"You be sure to stay safe today, we need you at home and not just to help with potty training." Laura grabbed another hug and then Mike stuck his head in the car to kiss each of his boys before helping Laura behind the wheel and seeing them off.

After Laura drove off Mike went back inside and was able to take it in stride that every firemen who walked by him giggled as he passed. When the rest of A shift came in they noticed the giggles too and wanted to know why. It took Chet to pry the information out of one of the other shifts men and soon A shift knew all about potty drills too. Cap told them to knock off the teasing or he would run some potty drills of his own.

Laura did take her boys out to breakfast and managed to have a restful time as the boys played with and took their time to eat their smiley pancakes. Laura then ran the boys through the restaurant bathroom before loading them back in the car and when they got home she managed to get them dressed in play clothes before lunch.

After lunch she took the boys to the park just a block and a half from their home and allowed them to 'jog' most of the way there. Between playing on the swings and going down the slides the boys were introduced to the 'potty house' at the park and each one made what was to them a memorial deposit before getting ice cream from the man with the funny bicycle. Before they got too tired Laura gathered her boys and headed out. She helped them walk most of the way home so that they wouldn't fall asleep in the stroller. Once home they were all very ready for a nap which was just what Laura had planned.

The still very tired Laura later became aware of life outside of her dreams and though she very much wanted to just roll over and go back to sleep she decided that she had better check out the little giggles she could hear off the foot of her bed.

Rolling over she noticed that one of her dresser drawers was open and that the other side of her bed was empty. Quietly crawling to the foot of her bed Laura looked over the edge to see two nearly naked boys. Both boys had managed to try and dress themselves with a pair of her panties.

Mikey had pulled the panties over his head, putting his head through one leg opening and an arm through the other one. Little Gregory had managed to get them on his lower anatomy but both legs were inside one of the leg opening and then an arm in the other. Both boys were trying to make hats out of the same bra as they tried to fasten the strap under both of their chins.

A quick look at the clock on the bedside table and Laura knew dinner was going to be late; she had slept longer than she should have for the schedule but not nearly as long as she needed and judging by the two wet spots on her bedspread she needed to change the bed and do laundry in addition to finding where the boys left their wet clothes, but that would all have to wait until she got them dressed again. It was a good thing that she didn't have to go back to work until tomorrow afternoon.

00000

While Laura was tiring her boys out the Men of station 51 were getting a work out of their own. They had just finished their checks and calibrations when the call came in for a structure fire in a known run down area within their response grid.

The fire turned out to be in a long abandoned apartment complex that had been rendered uninhabitable by an earthquake years ago. The fire was clearly arson and who ever torched the place had used enough accelerant to make sure it came down this time once and for all.

As of yet there was no idea who had torched the place but several in the surrounding neighborhood were high on the suspect list. They had been complaining about the place for years as a hide out for criminals, drug dealers, drug users and the homeless. A rabid cat found in the place a few weeks ago was believed to be the straw that demanded some kind of action regardless of how illegal it was.

Because the place had been frequented by homeless people and drug users the captains on the responding units had no real choice but to send teams inside to search the place and make sure there was no one to be rescued. No one was found and the men were soon pulled out, at which point it was determined by all fire officials and county officials as well, that the best course of action was to let the place burn to the ground once and for all.

It made for a long hot morning, but due to the massive amounts of accelerants used it didn't take as long as it might have done otherwise.

An onsite canteen was provided to keep the men going so by the time the fire was out they had all had lunch and when they arrived back at the station it was just a matter of getting the equipment ready for the next response.

As they moved to a seated position to finish the final polishing of face masks and hose nozzles the men started to talk.

"I don't know much about all this potty training stuff," Marco started out. "I mean I think it's really just the parents wanting to make it so they don't have to change diapers. The kids usually figure it out on their own when they're ready, don't they?"

There was no animosity in Marco's words, being a newlywed who didn't have children yet and wasn't planning on it soon; Marco had only seen potty training from a distance. The same could be said for most of the current shift since Roy was on sick leave Mike and Cap were the only fathers on shift at the moment.

Mike even gave Marco a quick glance to see if perhaps he was thinking of not having any children after seeing what Mike was going through.

"It's kind of funny when you think about it." Chet entered into the conversation with a surprisingly serious countenance. "I remember a lady who lived next door who somehow had her kids trained from before they could walk to go on command, she had all the messy stuff taken care of first thing in the morning and then they never had a messy diaper the rest of the day. When I try to remember that time in my life I just remember watering this one bush in the yard all the time."

"Yeah right," Johnny smirked very quietly then turned back to getting his equipment ready for the next call. Even though he wasn't talking it was clear he was listening. His partner for the day Karl Hess had a few things to say.

"You know the way parents deal with this sort of thing is all cultural. Especially the first time around the only instruction they have is what people around them are doing. When I was in the military I spent some time in France and when the kids there needed to go there was no finding a store that had a public restroom they just pulled the kids pants down and held them over the gutter." Ted paused long enough to load the box of trauma supplies he was working with before turning back to the men he was working with. "I have to admit the smell in the streets was less than desirable and my concern for the safety of the food and water I drank was of major concern, heck it was something the commanders lectured to us about before we got in the country. I'm sure that's why they have signs in French in some of the more popular tourist areas telling people not to crap here or not to urinate in this fountain and such. It's also why you never want to go swimming in a fountain in that country, ever."

Mike sat down on the running board of his engine and smiled contemplatively. "It's true what Ted was saying that the culture of the area has a lot to do with how they deal with raising their children. Laura and I talked about how we wanted to go about this potty training a few months ago. Did you know that in some of the countries Laura has worked in they never use diapers?

Some of the third world countries they strap the baby on the mother's back or to her front as soon as it's born and the mother has to learn to read the baby's body movements and has to take the baby and hold it away from herself so that it can relieve itself without soiling her. Any mother who is soiled by the baby after the first week is considered a poor mother."

Mike paused long enough to put his cleaning rag away, "Some of the orphanages my wife worked at, the older kids would get up and take the diapers off and strap the child to a potty chair and then go about fixing breakfast and other chores and sometimes the kids didn't get any other human interaction till around lunch time.

"Everything we've read and all the older people we've talked to say that the kids will eventually realize that by using the toilet they stay dry and are more comfortable and that it takes less time than having to have their diapers changed so they'll come to it on their own given time. I guess there's a lot of truth in what Marco said that we're just ready to stop changing diapers. I look at it as one of the first things I get to teach my sons. Even though it's been kind of intimidating and there have been times I've been a little embarrassed this has all been kind of a time to build a bond with them that I hope lasts till there's something really serious they need me to help them with."

There was a quiet thoughtful moment as all the men thought about what Mike had last said.

"I just got a call from dispatch. The police and animal control need our help rounding up a couple of snakes. We're to report to East Wilshire as quickly as we can without lights and sirens."

All the men hurried to their posts, with Johnny slipping behind the wheel of the squad. "Snakes?" Johnny cringed and looked at his partner.

"Don't worry, John," Hank called through the window of the squad. "They've got some experts from the San Diego Zoo there to do the handling; we're just to offer them some assistance in the form of cooling the snakes down with water before they move them."


	4. Chapter 4 Duty Calls

Duty Calls

John let out a slight sigh but it was clear he didn't feel reassured. He did however reach forward and turn the key on the squad bringing it to life. By now the bay doors were open and they were on their way.

When the emergency vehicles pulled up to the address given they were surprised to see that police had blocked off the entire cul-de-sac. Besides the four police cars, there were two animal control trucks, two large vans from the San Diego Zoo, and a large refrigerator truck hauling ice.

The men were slower than usual to get off of their rigs as a representative from animal control approached Captain Stanley.

"Station 51 at your service, I'm Captain Stanley," Hank greeted.

"Thanks for coming, boy are we going to need you guys on this one," the animal control officer commented with emphasis.

"What have we got here and how can we be of service?" This was a non code R response so Captain Stanley had time to figure things out and he planned to take it.

"Well, the first thing we need is for you to have your medics check out that lady over there." The animal control officer pointed to a woman being helped out of the house with a police officer on either side of her. "This was her brother's house before he died and she's the executor of his estate. She told us that she didn't like snakes before we got here. To make matters worse these snakes are slightly larger than they were last she saw them and she's having a bit of an anxiety attack. Still we had to have her go in and find the papers necessary to legally finalize this transaction."

Hank quickly dispatched his medics to the women with a wave of his hand and watched as they grabbed their equipment and headed to her aid before turning back to the person at his side for the rest of the information that he needed.

"Well it's a long story but I'll try to shorten it. There was a guy who lived in that house right there." The man pointed to the house on the corner entering the cul-de-sac. "He didn't have the greatest of health and couldn't take a dog for a walk on a regular basis so he got himself a couple of pet snakes. That was, from what we've been able to conclude in the last half hour, ten years ago. Those beasts are, well, let's just say we're guessing that they're close to twenty feet long and as big around as a tree trunk. There is no way of knowing for sure without stretching them out and, well, I'm sure you can see the complications there."

"To make matters worse the owner fed them and then took a little vacation to visit with his sister and while he was there his health took a major turn for the worse and he was hospitalized for nearly a month before he died. Since snake sitters are nearly impossible to find, those things have not been fed in all that time. Not a huge hardship on the snake, they're both still looking to be of good health but they're hungry, which makes them that much more unpredictable and dangerous to handle."

Hank swallowed hard and turned his head to take a good look at the trunk of the tree his paramedics were currently working under and then calculated twenty feet in his mind against the length of the engine. The only words that came to his mind for the next few second were words that no self respecting person would say out loud.

Finally Hank gulped in some air and then blew out a long slow breath before turning to the animal control officer standing next to him. "Okay, how is it you need us to help you?"

"Thanks for not just turning and running," the officer spoke, unknowingly deepening the fear in the gut of the fire captain standing next to him.

"Right now the game plan is to feed them. We're waiting for someone to come from the animal shelter now. While they're eating we'll need you guys to add some ice to your water tank here and then when we're ready to move we need you guys to go in and cool the snakes down until they can only move real slow.

"The experts from the San Diego Zoo who are here to take possession of the snakes, will take the lead in carrying the snakes to their vans. Still, I'm sure we're going to need some help from you guys. I'm told that in order to safely move a snake you should have one person for every four feet of snake." The officer from animal control looked to the men standing next to their captain listening to every word that was said. No one could miss the large eyes or the gulping swallows as each man looked at the fire engine they were standing next to in order to give them a visual idea of how long twenty feet was.

They each did the math and figured that if they needed a man for every four feet of snake a twenty foot snake would take five men, with them needed to man the hoses that meant the two animal control specialists, the two specialists from the zoo and maybe a cop or two. It was a time when the boys were overjoyed to be firemen.

Little did they know that the cops who were keeping all the curious neighbors back, were thinking that their place in crowd control would mean that maybe it was a fireman or two who would be carrying the snakes and they were overjoyed to be policemen.

Mike was in the process of watering some trees with the reel line so that he could drain enough water from the engine to allow room for the ice to be added when the truck from the animal shelter was driven in. The driver parked where he was directed and then got out to open up the back of his truck. As three members from animal control gathered at the back of the truck, animal capture cages were lifted out and each man took one in each hand. The firemen who were handing ice blocks up to the engineer so he could drop them in the tank each felt a knot of guilt build up in their guts as they saw the cages filled with four rabbits each being carried into the building and knowing that they were about to be fed to the hungry snakes kept inside. There was one cage filled with rats and no one seemed to feel any pains at them being eaten but the cute cuddly rabbits were another story. Still they kept their groaning inward and went about passing the blocks of ice from one to another until the last person was lifting it up to Mike to place inside the water tank.

While the men were stretching a two and a half back to the fire hydrant they noticed three policemen running from the house like it was about to explode and began to realize that something in there must be pretty scary.

One of the animal control officers ran up to Cap and after a brief conversation Captain Stanley hurried to the engine and pulled several tools from the bays. The firemen noted they were the tools they used to pull down ceilings and wall board to check for smoldering insulation and as the officer raced back into the building with them the crew gathered around their leader with looks of great curiosity on their faces.

Hank felt his crew gathering around him as he took in a deep breath and slowly blew it out before turning to them.

"Well guys, the female snake they thought they were feeding just turned out to be a, a, a litter or whatever they call it, of little snakes. They found the hole where the mother snake got out and they say that most often when this happens they find the snake in the walls or in the ceiling structure." There was a pause and another deep breath taken in and slowly blown out. "Boy am I glad they're willing to tear the place apart looking for it. Sure hope they know how to use the tools."

Hank felt the lump in his gut begin to not only grow rapidly but tighten up severely when the same animal control officer he had handed the tools to was seen coming back in his direction.

"They got to thinking that it might be a good idea to get the kids out before we drop the ceiling down on them." The man spoke slightly red faced. "We're ready for you guys to come in and cool them down so they'll be easier to handle." He paused and blew out a couple of breaths before he spoke once again. "The thing of it is we can't tell for sure at this point how many kids we're dealing with. They're all curled up together and until we start separating them we're not sure where one stops and the other starts. A snake of this kind can lay anywhere from 15 to 80 eggs. Judging by how big around the snakes are in the middle the expert from the zoo thinks they're anywhere between six or seven months to a year old and could be as long as ten feet each. We're going to need all the help we can get moving them out. But don't worry too much; we'll see to it that one of us is holding the head."

Hank was finally able to speak, "Did you say 80…80 snakes?" He could feel the color in his face fading just as rapidly as his feet were trying to get him to run in the opposite direction from the house. He had signed up to run into a burning building but a snake infested building was another story.

"Um, yeah, but the zoo expert is pretty sure there's no more than 30 in there. They have been known to eat their own kind if they get hungry enough."

All he had to do was take one look at his men and he knew they had the same lumps in their stomachs as he had. Hank swallowed hard once again then was able to speak. "Can we have five minutes to prepare ourselves?"

"Sure." The animal control officer was very understanding. "It'll take them that long to finish swallowing all the rats we just set loose in there. Besides we've decided to bring in a few more men to help out and that will give them time to get here."

"Since you don't know for sure how many you have, are you sure you fed them enough rats?" Hank questioned. The officer just looked at Hank as though he had never thought of that before he excused himself to go talk to the rest of his team.

John gave the ambulance a double slap on the door and watched as the ambulance pulled away, non code R, with the deceased man's sister. Hank, knowing his feelings about snakes Hank was wishing he had gone to the hospital instead of his temporary partner but it was too late now. Mike stepped up to his commanding officer. "Are we going to call in additional units?"

"I'm afraid we can't," Hank gulped the lump in his throat down again. "When they called me on the phone to tell me about this assignment, they said it was expected to take the better part of the afternoon and they didn't want to pull any additional units out of service. I was told to tell them that if they needed more man power it was agreed that they'd pull from their resources."

The men watched as one of the zoo workers retrieved another animal cage from their truck and from a distance it looked like it was full of small kittens but they couldn't be sure.

Hank turned back to his men in preparation of giving orders when he noticed Chet turning away and leaning against the engine. Even from the back he looked green, as if he were about to hurl, so Hank made his next command using hand signals and sent his paramedic to the aid of his lineman.

John was quick to place a hand on Chet's back and take a tight hold of his upper arm as he helped him to the back of the engine and sat him down on the tail board.

Once Chet was seated John moved his hand to the back of Chet's neck and started to rub as he spoke a calming mantra telling him to relax and take slow deep breaths and blow it out, all the while pushing Chet's head down to rest on his knees. Marco came and sat on the tail board next to Chet and was listening hard to John and also following every vocal instruction he was giving. Marco didn't rest his head on his knees but he was hanging it low.

A quick look at Cap and Mike and noting their colorless features, John made room for each of them to sit on the tail board, too.

"They haven't found a body in there, have they?" John questioned, guessing at the only thing he could think of that would bring about the looks he was now seeing.

It didn't take long for the men to get a hold of themselves and as they did they filled Johnny in on what was expected of them. They were beginning to think that John wasn't really listening but instead focusing more on the pulses and respirations he was counting until. . .

"80 snakes! Did you say 80 snakes?" Johnny gasped as his facial color began to drain down into his boots. The four firefighters quickly got up from the tail board as Hank and Marco each took a hold of John's upper arms and aided him in sitting down. Hank was now placing his hand on the back of John's neck and rubbing just as he had seen John do for Chet. He was starting to ease John's head toward his knees when John turned his head and looked at his Captain with horror filled eyes.

"Did you say possibly 80 snakes, and the mother has escaped?"

Hank managed to calm John a little, as well as the rest of the men, by repeating what he had been told, that animal control was sure there were less than 30 young snakes and that if they were asked to help move them they would only have to help lift the tail end. He also felt all of his men loosen up a little when he repeated that they were sure the mother snake was either in the walls or in the attic and animal control was going to tear the place apart to find her.

When the next three vans pulled in, two marked as being from a local pet shop that dealt with reptiles and the third unmarked, Hank was beginning to feel like he and his men were up to, although reluctantly, the task at hand.

That was the point when one of the men from the San Diego Zoo approached the man with the white stripe on his helmet. He was carrying the tools that had been borrowed earlier. "We've found evidence that the mother snake is in the crawl space; it doesn't look like we'll have to pull out the walls after all," the man explained as he handed the tools back to the captain.

"We're ready to go in and take out the juveniles as soon as you're ready to go in with the hoses."

"We're as ready as we're going to get," Hank announced showing more confidence than he really felt. "Just say the word."

Two hoses lay ready to be charged and Hank teamed Johnny up with Chet on one while he stepped in behind Marco on the other as they stood outside the house.

"Okay," the Zoo expert spoke. "All we need is a cooling spray, real low water pressure. We're just going to give them a cold shower, do we understand?"

Mike was the first to nod his head and turned to set the pressure gauge as low as it would go on both hoses then pulled the levers that caused the flat hoses to become round and hard. The frightened men became the confident firemen they were and pulled the hoses off the ground and started to march into the building dragging the charged hoses with them.

The house had been remodeled to resemble a couple of Zoo enclosures. One sizable room had been divided into two with inch thick glass. Both walls and floor were tiled with a shallow pond affair in one corner and a few tree limbs for decorations and climbing. Each enclosure had a door with a smaller door in the bottom for feeding. Each door was also divided allowing the top to be opened while the bottom remained shut. The men entered through the side door of the house which would work better for what they needed to do. They found the snake expert already in place. And once he saw that the firemen were there and ready, he opened the top part of the door to the enclosure he wanted them to start with.

"Alright now, as long as you keep the spray gentle and bounce the water off the walls they should find it pleasurable and not get agitated."

Hank gave each of his men a look and a nod and they all stepped forward and opened up their hose nozzles. Doing as they had been instructed, each hose was aimed at one of the walls. As promised, there was very little movement in the things that were so coiled up in the room that no one was able to tell how many there were.

After a few minutes the snake specialist worked his way between the two teams working the hoses and carefully opened the bottom half of the door and slowly slipped in getting soaked as he did so. He was quick to close the door behind him and stood there carefully watching the snakes. When they didn't move at his entrance he looked back at the four men who were standing right behind the firemen and waved them in. The men worked between the firemen like the man before them and entered cautiously. One of the men carried a large canvas bag that looked to be full of something and the other carried several metal sticks with an unusual sort of hook on one end.

Once the men were in the room the bag was set down and the firemen soon learned that it was full of other canvas bags.

"Alright men, you two take them one at a time and I'll watch the cluster."

The lead specialist just stretched out the stick he took from one of the other men and gently singled out a snake body, slowly and carefully pulling it toward him. When a head appeared the next person stepped up and took a firm hold of the snake just below the head and gently continued to pull. A second person stepped forward and took a hold of the middle of the snake and continued to pull until a tail appeared while the first man just kept his stick poised in case another snake made any kind of an aggressive move.

The man holding the head used his other hand to take a hold of the body about four feet down while the second one moved his hold a couple of feet further down and then took a hold of the tail. That snake was easily nine feet long and they had every reason to believe the rest would be just as big.

The snake was carried over to the last person in the cage who was holding a canvas bag open. The snake was lowered into the bag tail first and once the head was down the top of the bag was closed and a rope was tied tightly around the bag but some distance from the top.

The leader of the group spoke while he kept his eyes, both of them, on the snakes. "Be sure to set that bag where it will stay cool." He then turned to the firemen. "At least one of those hoses needs to keep that bag moist and cool. Just be sure not to hit it straight on, remember to bounce the water off the wall or the floor around it. We just want to keep the bottom of the bag wet and cool."

Hank assigned Chet and Johnny to focus on the bags since their position made it easier for them to do so and the men in the enclosure moved in for the next snake.

The work continued until they had eight snakes bagged and sitting in a corner of the enclosure. Even if the men handling the snakes remained focused on their work, Chet was starting to get a little bored. Bored enough to turn his attention to the next enclosure and what he saw there caused his knees to grow weak and he had to lean against Johnny to stay standing.

There was no way on earth that he could even guess how long the monster in the next cage was but they hadn't been kidding when they said it was as big around as a tree trunk. He had just never realized just how big of a tree trunk.

"We need to start moving some of these snakes out of here," the specialist announced.

Just then Johnny's partner returned from the hospital in the ambulance and entered the building to report to his captain. "I'm back, Cap, where do you want me?" he asked as he pulled on his turnout coat. Karl Hess turned to see the movement in his peripheral vision. "Wow! That's a beauty, snakes with a tiger striped pattern like that are rare and worth a lot of money," the newly arrived paramedic exclaimed and it looked like he was nearly drooling.

Cap was just as surprised by his replacement paramedic's reaction as the rest of the group. "Do you think you can spell Kelly off there?'

Karl quickly stepped up next to John Gage and took a hold of the hose. With the lower water pressure they were using one man could easily control a hose alone. Johnny was slightly worried about Chet and it didn't help any that he had turned to see what had caused such a reaction in his friend. If he hadn't been so concerned about Chet he would have noticed that his own knees were shaking just a little.

Once Karl had demonstrated that he had full control of the hose and knew where to aim it, John let go and started to steady Chet.

"Why don't you two take a quick break," Hank directed noticing the supportive manner in which John was holding onto his lineman.

"Since you're on your way out why don't you take one of these bags with you?" One of the men inside the enclosure handed one of the canvas bags out of the open door.

Karl groaned at missing out on the opportunity to carry one of those amazing snakes. Chet managed to take a deep breath and pull himself a little taller in John's grip before reaching out and taking hold of the bag above where the guy handing it to him was holding it.

It took Chet a moment to be sure of his grip but as soon as he moved toward the outside door the next person in the enclosure stepped up with two canvas bags, one in each hand. Johnny reluctantly took hold of one the same way as Chet had done. The weight was more than he expected but nothing a strong firefighter couldn't handle. Reluctantly, but with resolve to get the job done, John used his other hand to take the second bag and quickly followed Chet out.

Hank kept an eye on his men as they exited the building but then had his attention drawn back into the enclosure when one of the men addressed him.

"Captain, since it only takes one person to operate the hose can one of you take these?" Two more squirming canvas bags were being held in his direction.

"I can take the hose." Marco was quick to speak up as he watched the wiggling bags being handed in their directions.

Hank didn't want to take them either but he was not going to ask his men to do anything he wouldn't do himself. He let go of the hose and waited half a second to make sure Marco had everything under control and then, like his men before him, he took a hold of the two bags being offered to him.

When he stepped out of the building Hank was met by five men going in; one was wearing a uniform that identified him as being from the zoo, two were wearing county animal control uniforms and the other two were wearing t-shirts that identified them as being from the pet store.

Hank continued to follow his two crewmen who were being beckoned toward one of the vans. Hank watched as the bag Chet was carrying was taken from him and quickly but carefully placed in a plywood box with air holes cut in it and then the lid was quickly closed and tightly latched. The man then turned back and took one of the bags from John as another man moved in to take the second bag.

John was quick to use his freed hands to take a steadying hold on Chet's upper arm once again and as Hank's load was being relieved he notice that John was leading Chet to the squad. As soon as Hank's hands were free he followed his men.

By the time he reached the squad John was pulling Chet's turnout coat off before reaching for the drug box.

"I'm okay, I don't need any of that stuff," Chet began protesting.

"Sit down, shut up and, and let John check you over," Hank commanded. "And when he's done with you he can check my blood pressure."

Hank sat down on the running board of the squad as John gave him first a concerned look and then one of his classic grins before pulling the blood pressure cuff out and wrapping it around Chet's upper arm.

"I'm sorry, Cap," Chet began to apologize with a fully embarrassed look on his face. "I know they told us how big that thing was but. . . "

"Numbers and descriptions don't do anything to prepare you when you actually see that thing," Hank finished Chet's words and let him know he understood.

John made short work of checking both men's blood pressures. While Chet's was a tad bit low Cap's was high. He rechecked Chet's and it had come back to normal limits. All the time Cap was watching the bags of snakes being carried out and as one van was filled, they were now working on the second one.

"Chet do you think you can go in there and give Marco a break?"

"Sure, Cap."

"Good, I'll go in and relieve Hess; I think he actually wants to help carry those things." Hank then turned to John. "John, when Marco gets out here check him out the same as you did for us. By my count they should soon have the baby snakes out and then I'm going to recommend a slight break and planning talk before we take on papa in there. Those men from the zoo have been standing in that ice cold water while they've been working with all these snakes, so you better break out some blankets to warm them up a little. I for one don't want them to be slowed down by the cold temperature, just the snakes."

"Right, Cap." John gave him another crooked smile, glad to have an assignment that kept him out and away from the snakes even if it was just for a little while.

Cap jogged off to catch up with Chet and it wasn't long before Marco was coming out following his orders to check in with John. John found Marco's blood pressure a little elevated, too, but it also returned to normal with just a few minutes of rest. After a drink of juice he was soon back in the building to help with the hoses.

Sure enough, Karl Hess was seen carrying out several bags and as soon as his hands were emptied he was right back inside to get more. It wasn't all that long before the twenty canvas bags had been filled and carried out, but there were still eight snakes to go.

Karl Hess had no problem stepping up and helping to carry a snake without a bag. Even though there were no more plywood boxes in the vans, there were some plastic barrels with air holes where the remaining snakes could be placed. It was possible to put more than one snake in a packing crate but they wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

John, Chet and Marco each managed to carry out the tail end of a snake but Hess managed to carry three and even took the head end on the last one.

Hank wasn't the least bit relieved to see the last of the smaller snakes leave.

Their next task was the huge monster in the next cage.

**Authors note:** a few years ago our local news was busy reporting on the escape of two large snakes such as the ones in the story. They were named Julius Squeezer and The Hug Monster or something like that. Their owner claimed to be quite attached to them and that they were like his children. Many of his neighbors learned about his pets for the first time after one had escaped and moves were begun to remove the snakes from their neighborhood. The snake was found and returned to the owner, if for no other reason than animal control didn't have the means to contain the beasts. However when the bigger of the snakes escaped again only a few days later the courts were engaged and the snakes in question were removed from the man's custody, permanently.

I have found my research into these creatures interesting but even after contacting the snake specialists from three different zoos, I have yet to learn of a way to remove a snake without killing it once it latches on to its victim and at least one source claims that even if you cut the snake's head off it will continue to squeeze.

I'm not sure what to believe and that includes the reports that spraying Vodka in the snakes face will help to relax it. However one report recommends that you divide your Vodka into thirds, one third to throw in the snake's face, one third to clean the wound when it bites you in response to having a drink thrown in its face and the last third to drink to calm yourself down afterward. Like I said, I don't know what to believe.

There was one report that said you're best bet of unwrapping a snake is to start at the tail instead of the head. Snake handlers are even advised in several of the articles that I read that they need to be careful and aware of how to deal with their snakes if they get aggressive because local rescue personnel have no training what so ever on how to deal with the situation if thing are to get out of hand.

As interesting as I have found my research I have no desire to have even a small garden snake as a pet, nor will I snake sit one, so don't ask.

Oh and that part about the snakes victims dying faster than they would if they were just suffocated, is straight from my research, the snake seems to be able to cause an instant fatal heart attack.

Another interesting tidbit, when snakes are as large as the ones described in the story the only way they can be accurately measured is while under anesthesia, unless their straight it's not an accurate measurement and if they use a taxidermy hide that is not accurate either because the hide stretches quite easily to accommodate the increased size needed to swallow their pray whole.

Since they have to be anesthetized to be accurately measured it is clearly possible but apparently there is enough involved in that process that it can't be done in a capture situation. Either that or the people putting information out there for the general public don't want them to know how to do it. Just another thing I couldn't get a lot of information on. At this point that means I get to take some creative license with this story hope you can enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5 Deep Breaths and Warm Blanket

Caution, reading this chapter before bed time may lead to nightmares.

Deep Breaths and Warm Blankets

Preparing himself to request a break before they took the next task on, Hank was surprised when the expert took a good long look into the next cage and then turned to the fire captain.

"I think we should give that one a little more time to digest his food. That and I think I need to warm up a little."

Hank was quick to take off his turn out coat and wrap it around the man's shoulders while the rest of his men followed suit with the others that had been in the water. Before the lead person would sit and rest he gave the two van drivers instructions and sent them on their way to the zoo. It was learned that the vans held refrigerator units that were set at the perfect temperature to keep the snakes calm, and they were instructed to make sure they kept the ride smooth and even.

The drivers seemed unfazed by their assignment and joked among themselves as they secured their vans and headed for the driver's seats.

"If we see to it that they have a good time at the zoo, maybe they'll let us take them to Disneyland tomorrow," one driver called to the other.

"Yeah, and to Universal Studios the day after that," the other driver answered and they were on their way.

The wet and shivering men were all grateful that John had known that the perfect place to put blankets to get them nice and warm for them was next to the pump motors and soon they were all resting on the running board on the sunny side of the engine drinking from several thermoses of still warm coffee until they quit shivering.

Between sips of coffee the zoo expert began to talk. "You guys did a great job in there, I'm wondering if it would be possible to get a couple more hoses when we take on the big guy?"

"No problem," Hank was quick to reply. "With the low pressure you're requesting we can easily supply a couple more hoses and I was also thinking that a cross pattern over the top of that big thing would give more coverage and still not directly hit him with the water."

"I'm going to defer to your expertise in that area but it sounds good to me. By the way my name is Brian, Brian Snelcroft. I want to thank you guys for stepping up and helping to get those things moved, it's not hard to tell that for most of you, handling snakes is a little out of your comfort zone."

"I'm going to have to admit guilt to that one," Hank again spoke for most of his men, "I don't think I've ever been fond of snakes but since one of my men was bitten by a rattler a while back I've made it a practice to stay as far away from them as I can."

"Oh really, which one?" Brian asked as he scanned the crew standing there.

John raised his hand and wiggled his fingers, "I have to admit my first plan of attack is to hit the things with CO2. Freezes them solid, but they usually don't live through it."

"No, that they don't. I don't guess they include instruction on how to handle a live snake in your training now do they?"

"No we don't have nearly enough call for that in our line of work." Hank again answered for the department and his men. "I don't figure a CO2 canister would do much at all for that big monster in there though."

"No, it would probably just piss him off good, make him even more dangerous to deal with," Brian agreed before turning his attention to Karl. "You don't seem to share the rest of these men's inhabitations?"

"I have a snake at home, a boa; I've had him for almost a year now. He stretches out a little shorter than the ones we just moved. He's only about six feet long." Karl spoke with a little pride in his voice. "I was wondering if you were going to sell any of those babies we've just moved out. I've been thinking of getting another one and those are real beauties."

"I have to agree with you, they are real beauties and their owner has taken pretty good care of them, at least until he became too sick to do so. It's not up to me but there's no way the zoo will have room to display that many of the same kind of snake. I'm sure they'll make it on the market somewhere. However, I wouldn't recommend anything that big and untamed for a novice, especially a novice that works alone. Whenever you handle a snake like that you should always have a person for every four feet of snake."

"But you see people carry them wrapped around their necks all the time," Karl challenged

"I think it is more appropriate to say that they carry them draped over their shoulders not around their necks and it's still not common place enough that the everyday person isn't shocked when they see it. And it's still not the smartest thing to do. A snake the size of the ones that were just moved out is capable of breaking bones even if they didn't strangle you, I'm not sure you'd want a broken neck.

"People who do that kind of thing tend to over feed their snakes to make sure they're not hungry. It causes them to grow too fast, weakening their bone structure and they don't live as long as one that's properly fed and handled. It's not uncommon for them to put rats in with an over fed snake and the rats start to eat the snake."

"What if we were called out to help someone with a snake like that, wrapped around them, how should we go about getting it off?" John asked now that he knew CO2 would have a limited effect.

"Chances are real good that if you were called out for something like that, everything would be well over with before you could get there," Brian responded gloomily.

"But I thought this kind of snake kills by suffocation; that takes up to five minutes doesn't it?" John questioned.

"That has been the common belief for years but since they started domesticating them it's been noticed that their prey expires much faster than they would if they were suffocated. It's believed that they put a lot of pressure on the heart as well as overtax it with increased volume by squeezing the body and bring about a much quicker death. The best way to keep a snake from killing you is to keep it from getting wrapped around you in the first place."

The men found what he was saying very interesting as well as totally terrifying, but all too soon the coffee was gone and it was time to get back to work.

"I need to slip into some warmer clothes before I take on the big grand daddy." Brian started to climb to his feet. "I think we best load some fresh ice in the water tank here and get those extra hoses hooked up. I'm going to want to have that guy nice and cooled off before I, or anyone else, climbs in the enclosure with him."

"What about the mother snake?" Chet wanted to know.

"We're pretty sure she's holed up in the crawl space under the house. They've found the skin she's shed and there's been a few neighbors reporting that they are missing some pets so I suspect that she's eaten since the others have. I'm a little reluctant to send any men down into those tight quarters with such a large snake so I'm going to have to think this through a little before we attack that. The police are keeping someone staked out at all the openings to make sure she doesn't get out. Let's get the big daddy taken care of and then we'll worry about momma."

"Chet, you and John get the extra hose we're going to need hooked up. Marco, you and Hess help Mike get the ice in the water tank." Hank called out orders, envious that his engineer had a legitimate reason to stay as far away from that monster as possible.

The zoo experts and animal control officers stepped in to the ambulance that was on hand to change their clothes.

The men of station 51 were guilty of stalling just a little as they finished the preparations for their part in moving a twenty foot snake from its long time home to a new home at the San Diego Zoo. Even though their times were off from what was expected at a fire they were too efficient in their skills for it to take any longer than it took the snake handlers to change into what looked like wet suits and get ready to take the lead on the next extraction.

While the firemen were stretching the additional lengths of hose into the house, being very mindful to obey the advice to move very slowly, the lead specialist was busy pouring a couple of different liquids into a spray bottle. Once the hose was stretched the five firemen and the eight snake handlers gathered outside for one last pep talk.

"All right," Brian spoke up gaining everyone's attention, looking around at all those getting ready to go in and it was clear there was even some apprehension in the experts they were assisting. To Hank's great concern the only one that didn't look to be intimidated by the monster they were going in after was his sub paramedic, Karl Hess. "We'll let the firemen start this one out. I want to cool that guy down for a good ten minutes before I go in there, then I will go in with Masterson and Williams to test the water. Once we get a good hold of the head I need you," he pointed to the other man in a zoo uniform, "to get that door open and I need a person at least every four feet on that beast and I want to move him fast. Let's get him in the truck and the doors shut as quickly as possible. Firemen I would appreciate it if we can have at least two hoses on him all the way to the truck. Will that be possible?"

"No problem," Hank answered quickly and confidently. Keeping a hose on that beast, no problem but touching it, well now that's another story.


	6. Chapter 6 Ready or Not

Not recommended reading before bedtime.

Ready or Not

"All right men," Hank took over, "Hess, you and Marco aim your hoses to the sides bouncing the water off the walls. John, you and Kelly work high and cross your streams above that beast. When it comes time to move out, Gage and Kelly, you're on hoses; I want two more of you to help pull the hose as we move to the truck. Now do I have a volunteer for the one of us that will be stepping forward to help carry that thing?"

It was really no surprise at this point, Hess's hand not only shot into the air he was bouncing on his feet. Hank gave the leader of this expedition a look that he well understood.

"Good then, you take up a place behind my men along with the animal control officers," Brian instructed. "Just remember not to tickle that thing while we're moving him and don't let him start wrapping around you or anyone else while you're moving him."

Everyone took one more deep breath then Brian spoke again, "Are we ready?"

There were affirmative nods from everyone gathered and then Brian led the way followed by five firemen.

As they approached the cage they kept their movement slow and deliberate. Four hose nozzles were picked up and held at the ready and once Brian saw they were ready he carefully opened the top half of the door.

"Let's start bouncing off the walls first," Brian whispered and Lopez and Hess stepped forward and opened their nozzles.

All was going well so Brian gave a hand signal for the next two firemen to go into action. John and Chet opened up their hose that was aiming for the ceiling and then moved the spray down over the top of the snake. Just as they were where they thought they should be the snake started snapping at their water sprays so they quickly aimed back at the ceiling.

Even to the totally novice firemen, the snake continued to look agitated and aggressive. John finally figured out that Brian was holding his breath once he let it out long and slow. Time passed but none of the firemen were sure how much and they didn't notice any of the experts checking the time either. Eventually the snake did lie down again and stopped snapping at the water, he also curled up tighter to conserve his body heat. Even though he wasn't moving a lot everyone still noticed the glare which everyone was affixed with as they continued to spray.

Finally Brian took the spray bottle in hand and adjusted the spray nozzle then taking in and letting out another deep breath he waved to his back up team and they moved into place. The man with the name tag reading Jack worked his way to the front and took hold of the door knob, once the other three men were close together he opened it cautiously, keeping his eye on the snake every second as the three men slipped in. He then pulled the door shut but kept his hand on the door knob at all times.

Once inside Brian took half a step forward and when the snake rose his head and opened his mouth starting to reach out to snap at him Brian gave three quick sprays from his bottle before the snake snapped his mouth shut and started shaking his head back and forth before going after Brian again.

Brian was quick to squirt the stuff he had into the snakes open mouth again getting the same results, and then again the next time he opened his mouth.

Outside the enclosure more than one fireman was feeling starved for air and realized that they needed to take a deep breath or two and refocus on their assigned task.

No one was sure how long they had stood watching the standoff under a cold shower but to the firemen it felt like an hour. The snake was no longer raising his head and it had been a while since he had opened his mouth. Brian carefully pulled his watch up to see then took a good look at the spray bottle.

Brian spoke to the two men in the enclosure with him without taking his eyes off the beady eyes looking at them. "I'd like to get a little more of this stuff in him before we move him. Do I have any volunteers to pry his mouth open?"

"Sorry man, but I'd rather keep my hands attached to the end of my arms," one of the men answered.

"I have to agree with him, I'm ready to duct tape that things mouth shut before we move him," the second man said.

"No we can't use duct tape, he's not a croc," Brian admonished slightly.

The firemen then realized that the spray bottle contained a tranquilizer and they realized that their cold water had had a little help in calming that monster down.

"All right, let's get all hands on deck." Brian called quietly and the guy at the door pulled a handy talkie to his mouth.

"Send in the troops we're ready to move."

All talking was done in whispers and when the troops started to move in it was slowly and with silent steps. When the firemen tried to move to the sides to make way for them one of the water streams accidently hit the snake's body and he jerked once again opening his mouth and getting another dose of whatever it was that was in the spray bottle.

Breaths were held a while longer followed by cautious sighs as the snake once again quieted down. Brian took one more good look at his spray bottle and then slowly clipped it to his belt. A subtle nod and a sideways glance was given to each of the men in the room and then one of them turned and gave a wave to those standing outside.

The door was pulled open slowly and the men lined up, "Once the guys in there make a move we need to move in quickly," the first man in line whispered. "Make sure to take a firm hold and whatever you do don't let it get wrapped around any of us. Even one loop and it can do damage."

No one moved for what seemed like five minutes and then the three in the room each took a slow calculated step, paused and then took another.

Brian made the first move and the two men with him were quick to latch on to the snake. Brian was using both hands on the head and the next man was at his side while the third man took hold just behind the head, men hurried through the door in their assigned line up and Karl was quick to step into the lineup in his assigned spot, dropping his hose as he did.

Before the first of the men from outside entered the enclosure the snake had managed to wrap a portion of his body around the leg of one of the men holding him but the next man in managed to get a hold of the part of his body and pull back with all of his might as the next man took hold along with him and did the same. Others took hold farther down on the body and their combined effort was enough to allow the trapped man to pull his leg free without relinquishing his hold on the snake's neck. As soon as the door was free and before all of the men had managed to get a hold of the snake the lead men were moving out.

Because the men that were holding the snake were closer than four feet they ran out of men before they ran out of snake. Seeing this, Hank stepped in and took hold of the snake behind the last man and Marco gulped hard and picked up the body half way between his captain and the tail. Chet and Johnny carried out their assignment but with the snake now elongated they both wished they had asked a few more questions about where to focus their spray as they moved out. As it was they kept it high and did their best to make it at least feel like it was raining.

It required both arms of every man to carry the weight of the snake and there was something in Karl's eyes that betrayed the fact that he no longer felt totally comfortable holding that snake. There were similar looks on a few other faces as well.

Mike got his first good look at the snake as they moved toward the truck that had been backed up to the side walk. The leading men had reached the sidewalk and walked through the back of the tuck to another door on the side and were waiting for the rest of the men to gently curl the rest of the snake in the truck. Mike's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the first three men near the now open door and the snake extending the entire length of the front sidewalk and still more snake to come.

It was Chief McConnike slapping Mike on the back that caused him to take a breath and then Mike needed to turn and steady the Chief once he got a good look at the assignment he had given the station.

The Chief was aided in sitting on the running board as Mike needed to make some adjustments since two of the four hoses had been shut off. The pressure in the remaining two hoses was climbing higher than he had been instructed to keep it.

Once that was done both sets of eyes were locked on the process of coiling the snake up inside the back of the large refrigerator truck while the men in front continued to hold tight to the head. Finally the last of the men was seen exiting the building and the tail of the snake was taken from Marco's hands and carefully curled up into the truck before the back doors were carefully closed and securely locked shut before the rest of the zoo personnel moved to the side door to assist the main three in getting out.

First one and then another man carefully let go of the snake and climbed out of the truck and then Brian was helped to get his feet on the ground while he still held onto the snakes head, then a net affair was erected inside the truck and raised up under Brian's arms.

Once the net was secured two men took hold of the door and two more took hold of Brian to pull him back. The door was then closed as much as it could be with Brian still there and then everything stopped.

Brian looked at each man at his side, took a deep breath and blew it out then took in another deep breath. "On three," he whispered.

There was no verbal counting just bobbing of heads and when they reached three Brian let go, the men holding him pulled him back and the men holding the door slammed it shut. Leaning against the door with all their weight other men stepped up and latched the door tightly and locked it and then everyone started to breathe like they hadn't done for a while.

As everyone was catching their breath John moved over to the man who had had the snake wrapped around his leg. He had notice as they moved out that the man was limping slightly and wanted to see to his injuries.

Hank stepped up to his sub paramedic and took a hold of his upper arm. "You all right there, Hess?"

"Yeah." Karl let out a deep breath, "Yeah, I…a, I just wasn't prepared for all the muscle I felt in my hands. It was, well let's just say it was a lot different than wrestling a hose." Karl took in another breath then looked around noticing John and Marco nearly carrying the man from the zoo over to the squad, setting him down on the rear bumper and lifting his leg. "I better go give Gage a hand."

Hank knew John would look out for his partner so he let him go. Scanning the rest of his men was when he first noticed Chief McConnike sitting on the running board of the engine.

"All Right, Guys," Brian spoke up louder than he had dared for over half an hour. "Let's get this guy on the road; the guys back at the zoo are going to want to unload him before those sedatives wear off."

Hank watched as two men dressed in zoo uniforms quickly climbed into the cab of the truck and headed out then his relief was completely removed with what he heard next.

"We better get another one of those refrigerator trucks in here; we're going to want it for Momma when we find her."


	7. Chapter 7 One More to Go or The Last is

Cliff Hanger alert!

One More to Go or The Last is the Worst of All

Hank wanted to have all the information he could get before meeting up with his Chief to give him a report so he walked over to the squad, trying his hardest to pretend he hadn't seen his Chief.

John had the zookeeper's pant leg rolled up and was taking in some serious scrapes and the beginning of some impressive bruising.

"Those snake scales are pretty rough," John commented as he looked the leg over good and palpated to determine if there was a need for x-rays.

"Yeah, they are, I thought that guy had me there for a moment." The name tag on his shirt identified him as Stan Williams.

John sprayed a disinfectant on the man's scraped shin and calf. "Judging by the bruising that is already starting to show I'd say he had a pretty good hold on you."

"Yeah he did, but I'm sure it doesn't help that I haven't got my blood clotting back in line after I was bit by a rattler a year ago."

John and Karl shared a concerned glance with each other as John began to pull out the bandaging for their patient's leg.

"In that case," John carefully chose his words, "we better take you on in to the hospital and have a doctor take a good look at this leg."

Stan shook his head. "No way, man. It took every last one of us to manhandle that snake into that truck, now two of them are gone. I'm not leaving Brian any more shorthanded than he already is once we find the next one. She's got to be every bit as big as that monster we just loaded and she's in an area that is four times harder to get to, get her controlled and moved out. I'll get the leg looked at once I get back home, by my doctor, who already knows what's going on with me."

John and Karl looked at each other once again and John chewed his lip in concerned thought. "What do you say we give our doc's a call and see what they have to say?" Johnny only pretended to ask permission as he moved to get the biophone from its compartment.

Hank met his man at the side of the squad. "How's it going, John?"

"He's not too bad, Cap," John answered then looked around to make sure no one was listening in. "Just some scrapes and bruises but he's just got a preexisting condition I'm a little worried about so I'm going to talk to the Doc. He's refusing to go to the hospital though because he's going to be needed when they find that other snake. Do you think you can get the Chief over there to okay another station to help us move the mother once she's found?"

"I'll give it a try, if not, I'll have the police call out the National Guard." Hank then turned to face his superior. This was going to be an interesting conversation.

Stan had heard the Captain's remark about calling out the National Guard and started to laugh. "What makes him think they're not as afraid of snake as you all are?"

-0-

Chet Kelly watched police move their barricades so that the refrigerator truck could drive through. After a couple of deep cleansing breaths he looked around and when he didn't see anything for him to do right away he pulled off his turn out coat and headed to the engine and his water bottle.

"That was some snake you guys just moved out," Chief McConnike commented to Chet as he stepped up to the engine. He was doing his best not to let on that the sight of the thing had left him a little weak in the knees. "I guess you're about ready to load up the hoses and get back to work now."

"No sir," Chet answered before taking a long drink of water. "That was just the man of the house. We still need to get his wife. They're not sure where she is though. They've found her last change of clothes in the crawl space under the house but they're not sure if she's in the bedroom or if she's gone to the market to pick up something for dinner." Noticing that his captain had arrived Chet just gestured with his water bottle." I'll go take some water to John, Marco and the others."

Chief McConnike turned to Captain Stanley and shook his thumb after the mustached lineman. "Was he joking?"

Hank shook his head. "Trust me, he needs to joke to keep on his game. If you had seen that monster we just hauled out of that house you would understand the need for some coping mechanisms."

"Well I did see that monster you hauled out of there, and between you and me I don't know how you guys didn't just turn and run screaming. I do understand…the need for some coping mechanisms that is, but not a word he just said." The chief once again looked for and found Kelly as he was handing out water bottles.

Hank smirked and scratched the top of his head.

"I heard on the radio that two vans full of snakes left this location an hour ago. I stopped by to find out why you're not back in service. I mean when they requested the fire departments assistance they said there were only two snakes to be moved."

"Yeah, well when they went to feed them before we moved in, so that they didn't try to take a bite out of us, well, a few more heads than they expected popped up in one of the enclosures and when they got to looking around they found a hole where the mother snake had escaped," Hank explained now finding his own humor and coping mechanism in the look on the Chief's face.

"So you're saying they found more than just two snakes?"

"Yeah, 28 more to be exact, all of the young ones around nine feet long. That's what was in those first two vans they drove out of here. But we were lucky, snakes like that can have litters up to eighty babies."

"Do they have any idea where the mother snake is, and what was that Kelly was saying about finding her last change of clothes in the crawl space?" Then the Chief's eyes opened wider than Hank had ever seen them before, even bigger that when he saw his hat burning. "Did you just say eighty … eighty snakes?"

"Yeah." Hank started talking to keep from laughing. "We were all relieved that there weren't quite that many. As far as Kelly's remark about the clothes, at first they thought the mother was in the walls or up in the attic, apparently that's where snakes usually go with they get away, but in searching the place they found the skin she shed in the crawl space under the house so they think she's down there. Now that they've got the big Daddy on his way, the snake specialist from the zoo is getting ready to go under the house and see what he can find out."

"We were wondering, the men and I, since they've had to send some of their guys off to drive the snakes we've retrieved so far to where they need to go, if there was a chance we could get another station in here to help with the last of the snakes." Hank dared to broach the subject with his superior even after he had once been told that there would be no other firemen dispatched to this assignment.

It looked like McConnike was about to just say no but then he took a deep breath. "What do you say we go talk to this expert and see what more information we can get from him and then if I think it will help I'll give headquarters a call and see if I can talk them into it. It's going to depend on how busy the rest of the response area is, I hope you know that."

Hank gave a nod of his head but didn't say any more as he and the Chief walked around the building to find the opening to the crawl space and hopefully talk with Brian about the best and fastest way to get this problem taken care of.

-0-

As soon as his two superiors walked away Mike decided to take advantage of the break in the action and get some water for himself. He walked around the engine to the storage area where the water bottles were kept and found that they were all gone. Remembering that Chet was passing them around by the squad he walked in that direction hoping there was at least one water bottle left.

-0-

John had talked with Dr. Brackett about his concerns and what he was seeing in his patient, he also explained the job that was still before them and the limited number of men with the special training needed to get the job done safely. Dr. Brackett had taken the name and phone number for the patient's personal physician and made a call to consult with him. It was also reveled that the Doctor in San Diego was a little more rehearsed in the work this man did and the complications involved.

Dr Brackett had gotten back to his paramedic team and agreed to let the man stay on site but recommended that they apply ice to the leg and continue to ice pack it for at least fifteen minutes before he tried to wrestle the next snake, if that were possible.

When Mike stepped around the squad in search of a bottle of water he found John, Karl, and Stan sitting in the shade of the tree talking. Stan's leg was packed in ice and at least half a dozen water bottles were resting against the ice pack.

"Hi, Mike," Johnny responded to his friend as he came around the back of the squad, "Is there something I can do for you?"

Mike eyed the bottles resting against the ice with some curiosity, "I was hoping there was a bottle of water to spare."

Johnny quickly picked up two bottles of water and tossed them to Mike before introducing him to Stan as the guy who made sure they had the water they needed and at the proper pressure.

"Thanks for being there," Stan surprised Mike. He was feeling like a gold brick for not being anywhere near the snakes they were moving.

"How bad is the leg?" Mike questioned, he already knew the guy wouldn't go to the hospital to have it looked at because of his loyalty to his team.

"Not bad," Stan was quick to answer.

"It's just some scraps and bruising, Doc suggested we ice it for a few minutes to stop the bleeding into his tissues before we take on the last snake.

"Do we know for sure where it is yet?" Mike asked before taking a long swig of water.

"Brian's trying to pinpoint her location now," Stan answered with a nod of his head toward the back of the house.

"You guys aren't planning to go in under the house after her are you?" Mike questioned. "I mean it will be hard for you guys to maneuver in there but not the snake." As Mike talked he nervously tossed his water bottles into the air and then caught them again in a week attempt at juggling, but he was listening carefully to what was being said in an effort to understand his part that much better.

"Trust me I know what you're saying," Stan spoke with true understanding in his eyes. "Once Brian pin points where she is we'll put a plan together, but I think it's more likely that we'll either lure her out with some food or get her mad by throwing rocks at her or hitting her with some burst of water at a higher pressure than we've been using to get her to come out where we can handle her easier."

"But won't that make the snake more dangerous?" Johnny spoke up. Both he and Karl wore their apprehension in the looks on their faces. "I mean we've spent the afternoon so far trying our hardest not to agitate the snakes and that one time we accidently hit that big guy with the water he really got mad and that was after Brian had emptied half a bottle of tranquilizers into him."

Mike blew out a deep breath very slowly at what was being said as he continued to toss his bottles in the air and catch them again, stopping from time to time to take a swig before replacing the cap and tossing the bottle again.

"It's not the best case scenario," Stan admitted, "but it's a whole lot better than trying to trap her in that crawl space and if our suspicions are right she's probably eaten recently enough that we're not going to be able to coax her out with food."

All three firemen let out long slow cleansing breaths as Stan nodded his head with emphasis letting them know they were right in their assumptions.

None of them, not even the snake specialist was prepared for the speed in which what happened next.

-0-

Chief McConnike and Captain Stanley reached the back of the house just as two police officers were helping Brian climb out of the crawl space. Once they took the two sticks from him and then the flashlight, one of the officers offered a helping hand as Brian pulled himself to a sitting position on the wall around the opening.

"Did you find her," Hank asked as he stepped closer.

Brian shook his head with a worried look. "No, I didn't see her. She did shed her skin down there and from the looks of things it's been within the last couple of days. There's one spot in the crawl space where she could be but it will be best if I check that out from one of the vent openings. Still," Brian was shaking he head again with a deepening worry in his appearance, "snakes have a distinctive odor to them and I can't smell anything remotely strong enough to indicate a snake of that size."

"You mean—"the Chief started.

"I don't think she's down there," Brian finished, "at least, not right now."

"We need some help here!" the panicked cry of John Gage was heard and every man within hearing range ran in the direction the sound came from.


	8. Chapter 8 The Hug from Hell

The Hug from Hell

There was no question in Chief McConnike's mind that something bad had happened. He might not be totally up to speed on the snake rescue caper but he knew Hank and his men and was frankly jealous of the group he had and the tight knit team he had managed to create. That was something he had failed to do as a captain, it hadn't even been on his list of goals at the time. He knew when one of Hank's men called for help it wasn't something trifle, trifle they dealt with themselves and then informed their captain when the crisis at hand had been taken care of.

The Chief started to run in the direction of the calls for help but he was soon overtaken and brushed as the Captain he so admired moved ahead of him.

When they rounded the corner of the house what they saw made their blood run cold.

There was a man dressed in a firefighter's uniform with a snake wrapped around his head, arm and upper chest. All the Chief could see was snake and uniform; he couldn't tell which of the men it was. The man from the zoo that the paramedics had been icing down had a hold of the snakes head with one hand while his other arm looked to be forced into the snake's mouth. Blood was dripping down his arm and onto the blue uniform. John Gage was frantically pulling at the section of the snake that was wrapped around the fireman's neck and throat. Karl was standing by horror struck, he'd step in to try and help but then step back again not knowing what to do or where to take a hold.

"Start pulling at his tail," Stan Williams called out. "The first person should take a hold of his tail and then the next work closer until she's pulled off," Stan instructed quickly, the seriousness of the situation in his voice as he screamed, "Hurry!"

Chet quickly grabbed onto the tail end of the snake that was still in the tree and not so gently pulled it down from the branches before starting to work his way toward the head of the snake as if he were gaining control of an out of control fire hose. As he moved farther up the length of the snake it started to wrap itself around his waist and Hank having seen how the experts handled that in the enclosure took hold of the tail and began to straighten it out. Handing the tail to the Chief looking clueless beside him Hank then stepped up what he guessed was four feet and took another hold as Karl joined him and together they managed to pull the half loop from around Chet's waist. Believing that Chet was catching his breath after having the pressure relieved Hank then stepped in front of Chet and took a hold of the snake's body trying to gage a four foot space once again and started to pull in a direction that would unwind the snake from his engineer's neck.

Before Marco had joined the chain of men pulling the snake straight he had run up to the men wrestling with the head carrying an ax from the engine, He had stood there for a moment with it raised over his head before he determined that there was no way he could chop that snakes head off without hurting Mike, John or the other guy. At Stan's prompting he finally dropped the ax and ran to help unwind Chet.

Marco was soon at Hank's side and he coaxed him into taking over the hold he had and he estimated another four feet and took another hold. Seeing what was going on the two ambulance attendants stepped up and one took over where Captain Stanley was holding and Hank again moved upward taking the next hold and pulling.

As the next ambulance attendant took his hold, policemen from every corner of the scene were racing to be of help. Hank started to look around for the lead expert, Brian, as he found his next hand hold. He found the man fiddling with a syringe and a bottle of some sort of medication and believed he was getting ready to tranquilize the snake; Hank left him to his work as he called to the next police officer he saw to take his place with the snake and moved yet another four feet forward.

John had seen it all happen but things were happening so fast that he still hadn't had time to process what was going on. It was like some over sized rope had just lassoed his friend and the station's engineer.

Mike had been tossing his water bottles in the air as he stood under the tree. Man, they had been sitting there in the shade of the tree for a good ten minutes; why hadn't they seen that the snake they were looking for was resting in the branches over their heads? She must have been set off somehow by the water bottles being tossed around her.

When the snake dropped around Mike's head and shoulder it managed to get his right arm in a bent position and pull his hand tight to his shoulder as the other side of the loop was around his neck and starting to tighten next to his throat. It had all happened so fast that Mike hadn't even been able to call out for help before his airway was compromised.

The statements made before about how the smaller ones could break bones kept repeating in Johnny's mind as he did everything in his power to pull some of the pressure off of Mike's windpipe to allow him to breath. He didn't even flinch when the snakes open mouth was coming at his face. Stan, the man they had been working on, put a stop to the snake's advance before it got to John; wow that guy was fast with his hands. The snake instead took a hold of his arm but instead of pulling away the man just forced his arm deeper into the snake's mouth while taking a hold of it behind the head to keep it from pulling away. That was when John felt the muscles in the snake's body tighten and heard multiple, definitely more than one, snap coming from the bones in Mike's body. Mike couldn't even get enough air in to cry out when the bones were broken.

He needed a back board, neck collar, sandbags, the oxygen system, he needed to get Rampart on the line and let the doctor know how bad things were and what he feared most but more than any of those things he had to hold on to that snake and keep whatever pressure he could off of Mike's windpipe so that air, any air could get in until the rest of his team and whoever else was coming to their aid could get the snake unwound.

John's muscles were starting to scream from the strain as he continued to pull against that snake's effort to crush his friend and crewmate, but he had to hold on, no matter what he had to hold on until the other's got it off.

Hank continued to be replaced and then to move up toward the part of the snake that was around his engineer. He had just taken a hold of the snake's body that was close to Gage's shoulder and continued to pull.

"Go ahead, what are you waiting for," Hank called to Brian as he stood with the syringe in his hand.

"We've got to that thing off of him first. Once I stick this needle in her she's going to react and tighten her hold on him. If she hasn't already she'll snap his neck the way she's got a hold of him."

Mike's knees began to buckle as a sign that he had lost consciousness. Brian stepped just ahead of Johnny and while coaxing them all to pull back he started to work his arm between Mike's chest and the snake. "Be ready to support him when we get him free," Brian counseled.

"What do you need to take care of him," Hank asked.

"Backboard, neck brace, sandbags and oxygen," John listed, "with the pressure he's hand on his wind pipe we need to board him and run. I'll contact Rampart and treat him on the way in."

"We need a backboard and all the stuff that goes with it and oxygen," Hank called out.

A concerned neighbor who was trying to help and had followed the police to the snake stepped up and took a hold of the snake in place of one of the ambulance attendants so he could run and get the supplies that had been called for. Another bystander stepped in for the other ambulance attendant while Chief McConnike instructed the next man to take the place of the other paramedic. Karl ran to the squad and pulled all of the gear he thought they might need and load it in the ambulance starting to set up the biophone once he had. He then hurried over to his partner to help him with Mike.

Brian and Hank managed to take over the part of the snake that John had been holding allowing John and Karl to focus on supporting Mike's head and neck and holding up the weight of his body. The two ambulance attendants slipped in behind Mike with their gurney topped with a full back board and once they had pried the snake loose enough that Mike could slide into John and Karl's arms two teams separated from each other.

As they started to lower Mike to the backboard on the stretcher John could see the broken ends of the clavicle threatening to puncture through the skin he could also see the ends of the broken humorous shift as they moved. They needed more hands but they didn't have them and keeping Mike's neck stable was the most critical at the moment, if his neck was broken one wrong wiggle and he could be dead, or worse paralyzed for life. John held his breath as he moved for fear that breathing on his part could cause the wrong move.

Once Mike was flat on the board John moved to open an airway. He didn't dare tilt the head back or even as much as slip his hands behind Mike's neck. All he dared do was take a hold of the jaw bones and pull them forward as the ambulance attendants slid the sand bags next to Mike's head to hold it still and then wrap the board, sand bags and Mike's head at one so they could move.

"He has a pulse but it's too fast to count," John called out to his partner.

"I think mine is too." Karl acknowledge, "The biophone is set up in the ambulance and Rampart is on standby."

Karl was quick to place the oxygen mask over Mike's mouth and nose but one good look at his throat area and then knew they had a crushed windpipe, even though they were forcing air into his lungs it wasn't going to be enough for long; they had to move, and move fast. He could hear the whistle in Mike's throat as the air was pushed past the obstruction.

The next step was to get Stan's arm out of the snake's mouth. While Mike was being strapped down, as soon as Stan's arm was freed, Brian removed the cap to his needle and plunged it into the side of the snake just below its head. A bandage was quickly handed to him and Stan was able to hold it to his own arm as he was led to the back of the ambulance with two paramedics and the other patient. The ambulance doors were shut and the tires squealed out as the sirens flipped on. It was a couple of teens from the area that moved the barricades out of the way of the ambulance. The police officers were busy holding down one very aggravated snake.

The airway issues called for the fastest ride the ambulance driver could give them, the possible neck injuries called for the smoothest ride they could give. The driver, who had five years of experience, did his best to give them both.


	9. Chapter 9 Time to do, Think Later

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay, the Peaches on my tree, six bushel so far with more yet to pick, came ripe and they have to be dealt with before I have to throw them out. I'll need at least one more day to get them taken care of and then I can get to the next chapter. Thank you for your patience.

Time to Do, Think Later

"Rampart, this is Squad 51 do you read?" Doctor Brackett was standing at the base station awaiting their call. Dixie, at his side with a note pad, was ready to write down whatever information they needed to add after Karl Hess put them on alert. Johnny's voice was winded and unusually panicked, and they could hear the sound of sirens in the background. From those two things the doctor, who had worked with this man for some time, knew three things, the patient was probably critical, he was a team mate, and they were already in route.

"This is Rampart, we read you loud and clear, 51, what have you got?"

"We have two victims of a snake attack. The snake in question is a python that attacks by squeezing its prey to death, it is close to twenty feet long and bigger around than an eight inch fire hose.

Victim one had been squeezed around his neck and shoulders with his arm trapped in the snake's coils as well. He has probable spinal injuries, and an obviously crushed windpipe. We're using forced ventilation now and can hear whistling as the air is forced into his lungs. He's still slightly cyanotic and I don't dare tilt his head back to try and insert an airway. His pulse is faster than I can count and his respirations are assisted at 20. Stand by for B/P.

Rampart, patient has obvious fractures to his clavicle, humerus, radius and ulna and suspected fractures in his upper right rib cage. Our ETA is eight minutes.

Kell Bracket looked at Dixie and then at his watch, "Get a room set up for an emergency trach and have a portable x-ray standing by."

"I'm on it, Kell." Dixie handed over her notes and left the communications cubical on the run.

"Rampart, blood pressure is 140 over 96," Johnny came back on the radio.

"Okay, 51, we're going to be ready to do a tracheotomy the minute you get here. Continue to hyperventilate the patient the best you can in route, we're going to need an IV so start one TKO with Ringers Lactate. Is the patient conscious, 51?

"Negative, Rampart, thank heavens," Johnny replied with a heavy sigh.

What can you tell me about the second patient?

"10-4, Rampart, hyperventilate the patient, IV Ringers. Second patient was bitten by the afore mentioned snake. The bite covers the mid part of the right forearm. Patient used his forearm to prevent further injury to the other patient as well as prevent other injuries by forcing his arm into the snake's mouth and holding it there for the duration of the rescue. I haven't had a chance to get a good look at the wound, Rampart, but it is still bleeding freely and is bleeding through the bandage we applied. Patient earlier reveled to have insufficient clotting as a result of a rattle snake bite a year ago."

"51, is this the same patient we spoke about earlier?"

"10-4, Rampart, that's affirmative."

Dr. Brackett studied his watch for a moment. "51, apply a second dressing over the top of the first; if possible start an IV with D5W. We'll be ready for both patients when you get here."

"10-4, Rampart," a different voice was heard on the radio. Kell was sure it was one of the ambulance attendants. "Extra bandage being applied now and they'll start an IV if they get around to it."

In the back of the ambulance John was standing, bent over his friend. Mike's breathing was so precarious that he was easily their highest priority. His broken shoulder and arm were on the side closest to him so he had to bend over Mike to take his blood pressure on the arm next to the shelves in the ambulance. Karl had his hands full breathing for Mike, and the whistle John heard whenever Karl pushed the button on the ventilator told him more than he wanted to know. John was actually grateful for the sway in the ambulance and the fact that he's hit his head three times already.

Once the orders were given for an IV and information on their second patient had been given over, John handed the handset of the bio-phone over to Stan and instructed him to say, '10-4', as he reached into the Trauma Box and grabbed an abdominal bandage. Placing a corner of the bandage packaging in his mouth John tore the package open with his teeth before holding the opened package toward his patient. Stan was able to take the bandage by a corner and place it over his bleeding wound.

Stan was the one that adlibbed the 'if they get around to it', causing John to give him an apologetic smile. John was also grateful that Stan understood the priorities. He was a good man and John pledged to spend some time when the crisis was over telling him thank you for all that he had done.

John knew that the hospital was going to need an IV to give Mike the anesthetics before they could to the tracheotomy and that time was a key factor in saving his friend from brain damage or death.

John gathered all of his supplies and inserted the IV tubing into the bag before hanging it from a hook on the top of the ambulance and then letting the fluid fill the tubing before he climbed on the top of the gurney and straddling Mike, being very careful not to touch in any way the broken arm that was only splinted by being tied to the back board. It was never easy to start an IV in a moving ambulance but there were times when you just had to do it and fortunately in this case Mike had the kind of veins that you could thread a needle into with your eyes closed if you had to.

John was taping it down good when the call came from the ambulance driver. "Rampart's in sight, we'll be there in less than two minutes."

John tore off another strip of tape with his teeth then looked at Stan, "I guess you're going to get your IV started by a nurse, hopefully a pretty one."

"It doesn't matter what she looks like, I'm married," Stan joked. When John shared eye contact with him he added, "to my work. Once the girls find out I work with snakes they lose interest real fast. In fact they usually run, not walk, to the nearest exit and take a cab home."

Not knowing what to say, John responded with a weak smile and an understanding nod of his head. John did manage to grab some Kerlex and wrap it around Stan's arm securing the dressing in place and freeing up his other arm. As they backed up to the emergency room door John noticed that Stan was looking a little pale and managed to instruct the ambulance attendant that opened the back door to see to it that Stan was placed on a gurney and to be sure to mention to the nurse about his leg too.

The ambulance attendant gave an affirmative nod as an army of hospital staff moved to help them. Johnny hurried, pulling the head of Mike's gurney toward treatment room one were a team of two doctors and more were waiting. They were dressed in surgical scrubs and already had their masks in place so Johnny went no further than the treatment room door, only calling out, "Be real careful with his right shoulder and arm, we didn't have time to immobilize it all that well."

"We've got him, Johnny," John heard Dr. Brackett call out. "We'll take good care of him."

John witnessed them lifting Mike's back board onto the treatment table before the door shut, only to open again when the gurney was pushed back out of the room.

There he stood in the hall outside the door with his temporary partner at his side. They were both finally able to take in a deep breath. The words Dr. Brackett called out to him helped some, but only some.

John looked down the hall long enough to see that Stan was being taken into another treatment room and that he was being accompanied by a particularly pretty nurse along with Dr. Early.

"I…ah…I guess our job is done here." He blew out a deep breath and tried to relax the tense muscles in his arms and neck. "Maybe we should go get a cup of coffee, they'll, ah, they'll come find us when they have news."

-0-

Back at the house, eight men, some firemen, some animal specialists, some policemen and some just brave and concerned neighbors stood holding tight to a very large snake until her squirming subsided enough that they felt like they were in control.

When that happened the man holding onto the head took in and let out two deep breaths before he was able to produce a voice loud enough for everyone to hear what he had to say.

"Alright, let's load her in that van. I'll go first, just make sure you keep a hold of her until one of my men tell you to let go and whatever you do don't let her get wrapped around you."

Brian then started out but it took a police officer half way down the snake's body calling out "Let's move her out," before the people behind him started moving. He glanced back a couple of times and once worried about the slack in the snake toward the end, he also worried about a few of the men's backs. Some of the men were bent over with both arms wrapped around the snake holding its body to their chests as they walked. No wonder they were moving as slowly as they were; that was definitely an awkward position.

At last they reached the van and like before he stepped up through and out of the side door but continued to hold the snake while the remaining two of his men coached the rest and helped to coil the snake into the back. It wasn't going to be as roomy as the other snake got it but no one felt like waiting around for the next truck to come. In fact no one was sure it had even been ordered yet.

Chief McConnike was still holding the tail and since they wanted to tuck that in first before starting to coil the snake he was the first one relieved. As soon as his hands were free he picked up his handy talkie and contacted headquarters requesting they send a car to get Mrs. Stoker and take her to the hospital to be with her husband. He just hoped it would be for the purpose of approving medical treatment not to tell them which mortuary to send her husband's body to. The way the paramedics were working on him he was sure the man wasn't breathing on his own when they pulled out. And there was talk of a possible broken neck.

Once his communications with headquarters was completed the Chief stepped up next to the captain that had seemed to know just what to do when everything had gone wrong.

Hank Stanley and Brian Snelcroft continued to hold tight to the head and the area just below it, Even Hank was surprised that he was sticking to the side of the man who had instructed them all afternoon, but he just wasn't ready to let go of the hold he had.

Once again the snake was coiled up and then the back doors were shut, double checked and locked before two men came around and raised the edge of a net up under the two men's arms and secured it. Then one man took a hold of Brian to pull him back and Chief McConnike took a hold of his Captain. Lopez joined the man on the sliding door and once again it was eased shut as much as it could be with the two men still in the way.

"On three?" the man on the sliding door questioned Brian as the two men locked eyes. Brian took in and let out another deep breath and then gave a nod of his head.

All eyes were locked on Brian before he started to bob his head, once, twice, a third time. The third nod had just started when Hank felt himself being pulled backward. Brian began to release his hold so Hank did, too. Before he was sure he had his feet under him again the sliding door was slammed shut and locked tight. There was a wiggle in the van the informed all that the snake was moving inside but there was comfort in knowing that they were all safe from her. No one wanted to think about how they were going to get those things out again once they arrived at the zoo, at least none of the firemen. Their job was done and for that they were grateful, very grateful.

"How close do we need to watch her for complications of the sedatives," one of the men from the zoo asked Brian.

Brian started by shaking his head. "Don't worry about it; we just might have to put this one down anyway. Just get her back to base and let the vet there and the Zoo Board make the rest of the decisions."

"How bad did Stan get it?" the next man asked.

"Not sure. As soon as I'm done here I'll head over to the hospital and see how he's doing. If they'll let me, I'll bring him back with me."

Relieved by what their leader had said the three men took in and let out another deep breath.

"I guess we should be getting on our way then,"

"Yeah," Brian agreed. "Get that temperamental queen back to base. Once you get there you can tell them I gave you the rest of the day off if you want and let them unload her."

The two men snickered at their boss and then slowly moved toward the cab of the van. "Tell Stan we're thinking of him."

"I will."

Those remaining watched as the van pulled out of the cul-de-sac circle and onto the road.

"Is that the last of them?" one of the bystanders that had come to their aid asked.

"Yeah, that's the last of them, that we're aware of at least. I'll give the place one more good looking over and take some time to read Mr. Onslow's record books before I leave, but I'm pretty sure we've got them all now.

"Are they going to be at the zoo where we can go see them?" one young boy about fourteen asked with great excitement in his face.

"Yeah and how close to them can we get?" another boy at his side also spoke with great excitement. Both boys had taken advantage of the police officers rushing to help the firemen in trouble and moved in real close to get a good look at the snake. Someone of authority had stopped them from running up to touch the snake but it was someone from the neighborhood not from the county.

"Do you need us to stand by while you go through the house," Hank asked.

"No, go ahead and start loading up your hoses, if there are any more I should know before you get them loaded but I'm really sure we've got them all."

Hank turned to see that both Marco and Chet were at his side and had heard the conversation. Hank was quick to realize that they were the only members of his crew still on scene and his thoughts turned to Mike. He didn't know the extent of his engineer's injuries, nor did he know for sure what had happened but he had seen the look of big trouble in John's eyes and he knew there was a reason he left with Mike before he'd had a chance to treat him at the scene.

"Let's get those hoses loaded and then we'll all go see how Mike's doing." Hank then turned to the Chief, "I thought I heard you ordering a car to pick up Mike's wife and get her to the hospital. Do you know if they found her at home?"

"Yeah, they reported that they were on the way while you all were coiling that, that," the Chief just couldn't think of an appropriate word, "that snake on growth hormones."

The Chief then noticed the shaking hands on his Captain. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know yet," Hank answered honestly. "But I'm sure I will be as soon as we get that hose loaded." Hank then moved to help his men pull the hose in.


	10. Chapter 10 Too Much Time to Think

Snakes have gone bye-bye now but the Stoker twins are back.

Too Much Time to Think

Unfortunately for the two still rattled paramedics the coffee pot in the doctor's lounge was on its last cups and the last cup of coffee most always leaves something to be desired as far as taste. One testing sip and their cups were poured down the drain and the cups washed out. A quick look at the clock on the wall and they knew it was coming up on shift change and someone would be assigned to make a fresh pot in just a little while, it wasn't their place to do it now.

When the cleaning lady came in to clean the room that was all the excuse the boys needed to go back out in the hall and wait near the nurse's station for word on Mike.

They knew he was cyanotic, that he wasn't getting enough air, but did they manage to force enough air into him to prevent brain damage? What about his neck, was it broken? Did they keep it immobilized enough to prevent spinal cord damage? What other injuries did he have that were made worse by the way they handled and moved him? They never had time to check him over completely and even though his shoulder and arm were clearly broken the need to move and get him where they could deal with his airway issues were so critical to his survival they just had to let the rest wait.

Johnny kept trying to comfort himself by telling himself he did the right thing. When he took a deep breath and closed his eyes in an attempt to calm his pulse rate all he could see were snake scales and in his mind he could repeatedly hear the sound of snapping of bones. He could feel his fingers starting to tingle and knew that he needed to stop with the deep breaths for a few minutes.

John thought to go see how Stan was doing but he couldn't bring himself to leave the spot in the hall where he could see the door where Mike was. They were either going to stabilize him or lose him in a matter of minutes it wouldn't be long now, one way or the other. Someone would soon be coming out of that room with news. John's feet might as well of been superglued to the floor.

John's first realization outside of his own thoughts was when he felt a touch on his back. Turning to see who was trying to get his attention he saw Laura Stoker standing there with her two boys holding onto her pant legs.

"Where's Mike? How bad was he hurt?" Laura asked in a clear panic that was so uncharacteristic of her. Her eyes were searching the hall, stopping briefly at every exam room door and John knew she was looking for her husband.

"He ah," John fought with his mind to find the right words. He and JoAnne had an understanding of what was to be said at a time like this but there was no such understanding with any other of his team's family members. To make matters worse John had no idea how much information she had already been given. Did she know this was a snake attack not a fire? Did she have any idea how big the snake in question was?

Besides John only knew the answer to one of Laura's questions. "The doctors are working with him in room one."

Laura finally locked eyes with John and John knew with one look he had told her so much more than he had intended as the panic in her eyes multiplied.

"Boys, you stay with your uncles, Mommy's going to go check on Daddy."

John felt the grip of two small hands take hold of his pants as he tried to stop Laura from running down the hall. Laura just turned back to him with a look of defiance.

"I know my way around, I can handle it." She then pulled away and walked straight to treatment room one.

Laura had seen and recognized the cart outside of room one as the surgical cart, she quickly pulled a hair cover on and then a surgical cover over her clothes before grabbing a face mask and hold it to her mouth and nose with one hand as she used the other to push the door open so that she could enter.

The doctors and staff working on Mike were either so busy they didn't notice or Laura was able to keep her shocked gasp silent. It didn't take her even a second to notice the trach tube being sutured in place and she was just as quick to notice the spinal immobilization on her husband.

She had been told by the Department representative that her husband had been using the fire hoses to help calm down some rather large snakes so that they could be relocated from a private home, where they had been pets, to a zoo, she couldn't remember which zoo nor did she really care. The only other piece of information they had given her was that, "Something went wrong and Mike had been injured and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment."

Of course she knew it was serious the moment she opened the door to see two men in dress uniforms. One of them was wearing the collar of a clergyman. If it was minor they would have just called her and told her Mike was at the hospital, they wouldn't have sent a car.

Laura forced herself to look at the heart monitor where she saw a stable sinus rhythm at a rate of 80, a little fast for Mike but well within normal parameters, trauma does that sort of thing. His breathing was totally assisted, but that was expected, she was comforted that he had been anesthetized for the procedure, they had had time for that. Why a trach? Why not just intubate? It had to have something to do with the spinal precautions. Just how bad was his neck injury? What was the rest of their life going to be like?

She noticed someone handing out leaded shields, everyone there would be staying close while they took x-rays. Laura grabbed one before they were all gone, she would be staying too. Breathing heavily and fighting to keep her tears silent Laura faded into a corner out of the way. It was a good thing there was enough staff to take care of her husband because she was clearly too close to this one. All she could do was silently watch.

-0-

Out in the hall, John was finding a welcome distraction in trying to comfort two little boys. He had determined that they must have Mike properly ventilated by now; at least that's what he told himself.

Squatting down to be closer to the boy's eye level he started to rub their backs with each of his hands. "Would you boy's like some juice?"

"Where Daddy?" one little boy asked. It was clear by the looks on their faces that they were frightened.

"Well um," Johnny took another breath trying hard to choose the right words for these boys. "Daddy got an owwie—",

"An Ow wow," one boy corrected his uncle.

"Yeah, yeah, an Ow wow, your daddy got an Ow wow and the doctors are working on him to make it all better. You're Mommy just went in to help them." Johnny watched closely to the boys reactions to what he had told them. They seemed to ease up and look a little less frightened.

"Mommy make Daddy hold still so docor can give him shot and put a ban'aid on." the other of the boys explained. John could live with that explanation for now if it helped the boys.

John stood up and offered the boys his two pointer fingers to take a hold of when Chet rushed up to him.

"How is he? Any word?" Chet spoke in full panic and a winded voice.

John just gave a subtle shake of his head before looking at the boys next to him drawing Chet's attention to them and their needs. "I was just going to take the boys to go get some juice."

"Hey that sounds like a great idea," Chet put on a fake smile and cheery voice. "Can I come too?"

Chet put forth a hand in an offer for one of the boys to take but they both tightened their hold on Johnny's fingers. "Unca's boy."

"OH, well in that case," all of Mike's shift mates were beginning to understand that the boys didn't just go to anyone. Chet started to lead the way keeping his eyes on the boys and not getting more than a step in front of them.

"You coming, Karl," Johnny asked? He had been a little concerned about the look on Karl's face as well and the tremor in his hands. Nothing to really worry about yet but he was keeping an eye on the guy.

Marco joined them as they walked down the hall and Chet held the door to the doctor's lounge open while everyone entered. As soon as they were through the door John looked at a nurse there and asked, "Is there some juice for these boys?"

"Sure," the nurse answered somewhat reluctantly but she at least tried to hide it from her voice as she moved to the fridge and pulled out a couple of small cartons of juice. The boys let go of Johnny's hands to claim their prize and Johnny and Chet worked together to move the boys over to a chair next to the table as they helped them put a straw in their cartons.

"Are these Laura's twins?" The nurse asked. The news that Laura's husband had been rushed into the ER and immediate surgery in critical condition had spread through the ER as fast as Mike did when he was brought in. She hadn't seen the boys since the day Laura brought them through to show them off the day they had a special party in Peds to celebrate all the preemies that survived to their first birthday. That had been nearly a year ago and the boys had sure grown since then. They looked more and more like their father.

Once the boys were distracted by their drinks Chet turned once again to Johnny and whispered. "How bad is he?"

John blew out a breath and then looked to see that the boys were having fun playing with their straws blowing bubbles in their juice between taking drinks. He then turned back and whispered just as softly. "They had to do an emergency tracheotomy in order for him to breathe."

"Isn't that where they cut,-?' Marco whispered also as he touched his own throat.

John just gave an affirmative nod with his head before whispering, "I don't really know anything else."

Once the boys were done with their juice, John just got them a second one. It had worked to keep them entertained why not continue. Before they were finished with their second drinks they both had other needs.

"Potty drill," the boys informed as they pulled at their crotches.

A panicked look came over John's face as he realized that all that juice had to go somewhere. Not sure what to do next Johnny was thrilled when the nurse stepped forward offering her hand to the boys. "I'll take them to the bathroom."

However the boys quickly threw their arms around Johnny's knees and held on tight. "Unca's boy."

With some understanding the nurse looked at Johnny, "Well you better hurry and take them, boys this age can't hold things very long."

John's saving grace was when Marco stepped forward. "I'll go with you."

"Unca's boy," one of the boys repeated.

"That's Okay," Marco just continued to hold his hand out, "I'm an uncle too, remember."

The boys seemed to accept that and one of them took Marco's hand and the four of them moved through the door and across the hall to the men's room.

Once there they found one of the two stalls was taped shut with a sign that said 'out of order' and the other was occupied. Knowing that boys this age couldn't wait there was no other choice than to introduce them to the urinals in the wall. Fortunately for them one of the janitors has just left a box of bathroom paper towels in the corner so Marco was quick to kick the box over next to the urinal and then lift one of the boys on it while Johnny lifted the other one. Working together to help them lower their trousers and panties Johnny talked to them as he had heard Mike do about aiming their little hoses and making sure they didn't make a mess.

-0-

Roy raced into the doctor's lounge with Dixie on his heels. Roy was wearing his street clothes and had his face covered with a disposable face mask but they could see that the eyes were full of concern. "I saw a news flash on TV but I couldn't tell for sure who it was they were moving into the ambulance though. Was it Cap?"

"NO," Chet was quick to answer; he was actually relieved to have their missing team mate around. "It was Mike. That thing crushed his windpipe and they had to do an emergency tracheotomy."

"Do we know any more?" Cap asked as he stepped in behind Roy. The Chief was right behind him.

Chet and Karl both shook their heads negatively.

"What about Laura, has she made it here yet?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, she's in the treatment room with Mike. Johnny had to take the boys across the hall."

"Laura's in the treatment room?" Dixie exclaimed.

"Yeah, Johnny tried to stop her, but she was pretty determined," Karl responded. This might not have been his regular crew but he had worked with Laura and he knew she was no one to challenge.

-0-

The door to treatment room one opened up and since the doctors were anxiously awaiting the preliminary x-rays they were quick to look up and surprised to see Dixie standing there holding a mask to her face.

"What's up, Dix?" Dr. Brackett questioned.

Dixie just moved her eyes around the room until she found Laura leaning against the wall. Kell Brackett, knowing Dixie well by now, turned to see what she was looking at.

"Laura, you shouldn't be here."

Dixie stepped the rest of the way into the room allowing the door to shut behind her, only to have it open again to allow the x-ray tech to enter with the newly developed films.

Dixie quickly moved over to put her arms around Laura and try to lead her from the room. "Let's go get some coffee and Kell will come talk to you as soon as he has something to tell you."

Laura held her ground. "Put them up," she told the doctor holding the films.

"Laura," Kell talked to the Medex on his staff. "I promise I'll come talk to you just as soon as we know what we're dealing with."

"You're going to have to show them to me sooner or later, I'm prepared for the worse, just put them up." Laura demanded and it was clear that short of a major scuffle she was not going to be moved.


	11. Chapter 11 Understanding Time

Understanding Time

Dr. Brackett knew his Medex(Medex explained in story Out of the Blue), the same determination she was now showing had saved more than a few lives, both since she started working at Rampart and before in the international disaster relief she had worked in. She was clearly on the edge, only marginally holding her emotions together, but she had conducted herself in a manner not to interfere in her husband's care and Kell trusted that she would continue to do so. He gave a signal to the orthopedic surgeon who was holding the preliminary x-rays to go ahead and put them up.

The first x-rays on the light box were of Mike's C spine, they also showed his trachea and the trach placement. There were great sighs of relief. The neck was not broken.

"There seems to be a slight displacement of these three vertebras," Dr. Gerard spoke as he moved his fingers along the film of the spinal column. "It looks to me like they should pull right back in line with a little traction. Once the swelling is down there should be no motor impairment in the least."

"Was there any impairment when he was brought in?" Laura asked with heavy breathing.

"Laura," Kell began taking in the controlled panic in her voice. "His airway issues were our first concern when he came in. We had to move fast, we didn't even take the time to check out his reflexes we just hit him with a paralytic before going to work on the trach."

Laura nodded her head in understanding and began to focus on the damaged trachea in the films.

Kell Bracket stepped forward and examined the films closer. "We're going to need a throat specialist on this larynx and trachea for sure but I don't see anything there that can't be repaired."

"I agree with you, Kell. I recommend Larry Milton; this kind of work is right up his alley."

"Get him," Kell responded, he also wanted the best for the husband of one of his team members.

The next films slipped onto the light box were of Mike's shoulder and upper ribs. These films were just as disturbing as the C spine had been assuring.

"Man," Dr. Gerard blew out a deep breath, "That snake sure did a number here."

Laura gulped in some air and bit her lip; the collar bone and ribs 1, 2, 3 and 4 were all broken many of the bones in two places each.

"What a jigsaw puzzle." Dr. Gerard blew out another breath as he looked at the work ahead of him.

"You're going to need pins and plates for every one of those fractures," Laura commented as she took in the displacement of each bone fragment. Still she was remaining stoic as Dixie remained at her side with an arm around her shoulders. "As far as the traction on his neck there's no way you can put him in a halo with those fractures." (The Halo referred to is a device where a ring is literally screwed into the skull and then attached to a harness that rests of the shoulders with attachments between the two that push traction on the cervical spine. With Mike's shoulders broken as they are in this story will not support the harness or the pressure to hold his neck straight. Nor would a rigid neck brace be good on the shoulder and rib fractures.)

Dr. Gerard looked long and hard at Laura Stoker. He had yet to have the privilege of working with this woman but her reputation had been talked about in his circles. All of her reputations, including her psych issues.

"Yeah, you're right about that, we're going to have to string him up the old fashioned way. But it should only be for a couple of days. Just until the swelling goes down and the bones are well seated then we'll be sure he won't go into muscle spasms and pull the bones out of alignment again. He'll probably set off the metal detectors at the airport when we're done with him. Still, as big of a mess as he's got here, if these bones hadn't have given like they did his neck surely would have. He's one lucky man."

The next films looked at were of Mike's upper arm. That, too, was broken in two places and in need of being pinned and plated. It was pretty much the same story for the radius and Ulna in the lower arm."

"What about his shoulder and elbow?" Laura asked, "Are you going to be able to immobilize him with the pins and plates enough that he'll be able to maintain range of motion during recovery?"

Dr. Gerard took another good look at the films before answering. "We're going to have to keep him tightly immobilized for at least two weeks but then I think we should be able to start working on range of motion, of course that will have to be under supervision."

Laura let out a long slow sigh as Dixie pulled her a little tighter against herself.

"I know that he's stable now but the quicker we get at the needed repairs the more successful we'll be and the less likely to have complications." Dr. Gerard looked to Kell to call the shots.

Laura just nodded her head. "Better get at it then. Just remember he's somebody pretty special and give him the best care possible."

"We'd never do anything less," Kell assured Laura and then watched as Laura finally allowed Dixie to lead her from the room.

Once the door was closed behind them Dixie started stripping Laura of her surgical clothing, when that was done she once again wrapped her arm around Laura's shaking shoulders and started dragging her toward the doctor's lounge.

"The rest of Mike's team is in the lounge waiting for word," Dixie commented as they walked. The pace was slow and Laura just reached up and took a hold of the hand that was on her shoulder and held on tight as they walked. When they reached the door to the lounge Laura stopped moving.

"I need a minute, Dix." Dixie just stood at her side and rubbed her back.

Before Laura felt ready to go to her husband's teammates the men's room door opened across the hall and out ran two little boys throwing their arms around their mother's legs and calling out both loud and excitedly.

"Mommy, mommy we go potty in a sink!"

"But we wash our hands in other sink," Gregory added for his mother's approval.

Every hospital worker with in hearing range turned to look with disapproving glares but their glares were not aimed at two innocent small boys, they were aimed at the two men in firefighting uniforms who followed the boys out of the bathroom.

"It was the urinal," John whispered to Laura in a voice that squeaked with embarrassment.

"One of the stalls is out of order and the other one was in use," Marco added just as quietly and with a timid smile on his cherry red face.

Laura knelt down and took her boys in her arms, holding them tight. As she did she turned a weak smile to the boys in blue, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

John and Marco's stomachs tightened with the need for more information on their friend.

"Is Daddy ready go home yet?" Mikey asked.

"No, not for a while yet," Laura answered turning away from her boys as she talked.

"Do the Unca's need to hep you hod him so him get hims shot?" Gregory thought he knew the problem at hand.

"NO, no that's not the problem. Let's go sit down in this room and Momma will explain, okay."

John and Marco's stomachs tightened significantly more than they already were.

Laura took her two boys by their hands and entered through the door that Marco was holding open for her.

Everyone looked up as they entered; no one missed Laura's moist eyes or the troubled looks on John and Marco but they also knew the small boys needed to be dealt with before they could get their answers.

Laura walked straight to the sofa and sat down before pulling her boys up on her lap. When she had them situated one on each knee turned to that they were facing her she began to speak.

"Daddy doesn't just need a shot. Daddy has some broken bones that have to be put back together." Laura paused to think hard on a way to explain so that her small sons could at least slightly understand.

"Do you remember when Nana's horsy fell and got broken, and how Nana fixed him?" Laura questioned.

"No touch till goo dry," Gregory spoke first showing that he remembered.

"Yeah, no touch," Mikey repeated. They had both loved to pet grandma's special horsey every time they went to visit Grandma but somehow the shelf it had rested on was bumped one day and it fell to the floor and broke.

"That's right, we can't touch until the glue dries. Daddy has to have his bones put back together like Nana's horsey and we're going to have to be really, really careful with him until the bones heal. Daddy's going to have to have a sleepover at momma's work for a few days until he's better enough that we can take him home and take care of him."

"Do you boys understand what Momma's saying?"

"Him get I ceam and cake and boons?" Mikey asked, he clearly remembered the preemie birthday party they came to.

"Maybe, but not for a couple of days; Daddy's going to have to sleep a lot so that he can get better." Laura tried to explain.

There was silence for a moment or two and everyone in the room wondered if the boys had any real idea what their mother was talking about. No one knew what to say next.

"Where juice go?" Gregory asked having looked over at the table.

"Ah, someone came in and cleaned up while you were gone," Chet answered feeling stupid for not saving the boys drinks for them.

That was Dixie's cue. "I bet if you come with me I can find you boys some ice cream."

"I ceam!" Gregory was clearly in favor of that.

"Me too?" Mikey wanted some.

"If it's okay with your mom."

"Momma can we go wiff unca Dixie?"

"Peas?"

"Sure," Laura answered with a grateful smile for Dixie, "but you boys be sure to be good and remember to say thank you."

Everyone in the room held their breath until Dixie and the boys had gone through the door and it closed behind them. The Laura let out a tearful sigh followed by a few hitched breaths.

"He's stable," Laura got out. "You got him here in time and they got the trach tube in. He's well ventilated now so they have time to plan what to do next."

"Is his neck broken?" That was Johnny's next big concern as he ran his hand through his hair and held it on the back of his head waiting for the answer.

"No," Laura quickly answered and everyone in the room instantly sighed with great relief as Johnny finally sat down on the arm of the sofa and rest his face in his hands to hide his unshed tears.

"There are three vertebras that are slightly displaced but they're sure they can pull them back in line with a little traction. Nearly every bone in his shoulder and upper chest is in three or more pieces. They're going to have to put in a whole hardware store full of screws and plates to put him back together but if his shoulder hadn't have given like it did, his neck would have and of the two choices—"

Laura didn't have to say any more they all knew what the alternative would have been.

"You guys did everything right to get him the help he needed most. He's going to need some serious work done on his larynx and the cartilage rings in his trachea, but once that heals they'll be able to remove the trach tube. He's in for several hours in surgery and a rough few days but he's, he's going to make it through this. He's going to be alright."

Laura finally let down and cried, her arms were thrown around Johnny's neck and John was holding her tight but every other member of Mike's team was also holding on to her. Their friend was going to make a full recovery and that's all that mattered.

Once Laura was able to pull herself together and managed to wash her face and blow her nose the group gathered around and started to tell her the details of what happened. In the process of reliving the incident through storytelling, Karl started to hyperventilate, Hank's hands started trembling again, and Marco got way too quiet and then didn't respond until he was yelled at twice. When he did respond it was with a start and he accidently caught Chet in the side with his elbow. His accidental jab with the elbow had Chet doubling over in pain and when John and Laura lifted his shirt to get a look at his side they saw massive bruising that couldn't have been caused by Marco's elbow.

"Marco, get him a wheelchair," Laura ordered as she quickly placed her finger tips to Chet's temples, Her super quick way of telling if the blood pressure was adequate or if the patient was going into shock.

"I swear, Cap, I don't know what happened, I didn't feel a thing until just now when Marco jabbed me."

"With all the adrenalin we've been running on it's no surprise you didn't feel anything. I'm betting it's from when that snake got wrapped around you while you were trying to pull it off Stoker," Hank responded to Chet's declaration. Laura took notice of what was said.

"The same snake that crushed all the bones in Mike's shoulder got a hold of him too?"

When Marco returned with the wheelchair the nurse covering the desk for Dixie was with him.

"We need a treatment room and portable x-ray stat," Laura ordered.

Chief McConnike moved to the phone in the corner and called headquarters telling them to get the next shift in for station 51 and to have them pick up the engine and squad at Rampart. He then requested a crisis counselor respond to talk with the men at Rampart.

Chet was lifted into the wheelchair and moved into the hall toward the next open treatment room. On their way they had to stop and wait for the team working on Mike to move him toward the elevator that would take him to surgery. Laura froze behind Chet watching her husband being moved. Once the elevator doors closed behind him she let out a deep breath and motioned for the Chet party to start moving again.

They were just moving through the treatment room door when Dixie returned with little Mikey and Gregory and to her surprise they let go of her hands and ran to their mother.

"Mommy, is Daddy's goo dry yet?"


	12. Chapter 12 In Need of a Little Help Here

In Need of a Little Help Here

Laura bent over and placed her hands in the middle of each of her son's backs holding them to the side of her legs. The overwhelming emotional weight of all that was going on in her life at that moment was nearly enough to paralyze her. It wasn't helping in the least that her two young sons had no concept of what was going on.

"No sweethearts, they haven't even started to put Daddy's bones back together yet." Laura tried to explain but knew as she did that her efforts would be futile.

"Can we have a ride with Unca Chip?" one boy asked.

"No sweetheart, Uncle Chip, a Chet, has a tummy ache. Mommy needs to see if she can make him feel better. Could you ask your Uncles if they could read you a story while Mommy sees what she can do for Uncle Chet?

Dixie turned to the Fire Captain and started giving directions. "There's a big basket full of books in the Pediatric department just down the hall."

Unca Cap'n Sanny took over from there. "Come on boys lets go pick out some books to read."

While Dixie was directing the firemen Laura was barking out orders for Johnny, Karl and the nurse. "Get him in a gown and on the table. We'll need a set of vitals, a CBC, UA, Chem panel and we better type and cross match him for six units. I want a flat plate and side views of the abdomen and let's set up a full scan with contrast pending the results of the x-ray. Let's go ahead and start an IV with normal Saline and run it TKO for now."

Johnny moved Chet into the treatment room to begin the orders Laura had just called out as Dixie took hold of Laura's arm to slow her down a little.

"What's going on here?" Dixie questioned.

Laura looked at Dixie, then at her boys being led down the hall by Hank, and Marco as Roy stood in the hall clearly torn between going to help with Chet or going to help with the boys. Technically he was still contagious and really shouldn't do either one.

Laura then looked at the elevators at the end of the hall before turning back to Dixie and giving the hand on her arm a tight grip with her other hand. "Chet started exhibiting abdominal pain while they were telling me what happened at the scene. Upon preliminary examination he's showing marked discoloration in the area of his upper abdominal quadrants in the area of his liver, spleen and kidneys, Hank revealed that while he was trying to pull the snake off of my husband that it managed to get wrapped around Chet's waist at one point."

"You suspect internal bleeding?" Dixie started putting things together as well.

"Something is causing him to turn black and blue. You better put and OR on stand-by until we get the test results back."

Laura locked eyes with Dixie once again and acknowledged the unasked question, 'was she up to this right now?' The honest answer was that she wasn't sure.

"Which doctor is available?" Laura asked and answered Dixie's concerns.

"With Kell and Dr. Morton both going to surgery with your husband we're a little short right now. I've called in the doctors from the next shift but they'll take a while to get here. Dr. Early's just finishing up with his patient he should be available before too long."

"Alright," Laura sighed, "Let's a, let's get the test results ready for when Dr. Early's finished up."

"That sounds like a plan," Dixie gave her friend's arm a supportive squeeze.

"Just stay on top of me, Dix." Laura revealed that she knew she was walking a tight rope with her emotions. "Especially right now, just stay on top of me."

Johnny stayed and worked with, and on, Chet until he was chased out so that they could do x-rays. Laura had done an examination and was relieved that his stomach was soft and there was minimal pain when she palpated the bruised area that went from his stomach around his side and to his back.

Once she received the lab results and the preliminary x-rays Laura stepped into the treatment room where Dr. Early was finishing up the extensive stitching that had been required to close up the snake bite wound on Stan Williams' arm. Sitting in a chair in the corner was another man wearing the same uniform as the patient.

Laura knew who these men were in an instant but the size of the bite wound on the patient's arm nearly took her breath away. Brian noticed the wide eyes and the blanching complexion on the person who had just entered the room and rose to his feet and stepped to her side quickly. Once he offered her his seat Laura took a deep breath and was once again under control.

"Thank you, I'm fine now." Laura tried to convince everyone. "You must be some of the men who helped save my husband's life."

"How is he?" Stan asked as he lay back in the treatment bed and looked at his guest who had a chart in her hand. There was no question in his mind who she was talking about even if he couldn't remember the guy's name.

"He's got some broken bones in his arm and shoulder that they've taken him to surgery to repair along with the crushed trachea. But a, under the circumstances he's pretty lucky; the doctors expect a complete recovery. I want to thank you for everything you did to make that happen."

Both men let out a sigh of relief at the news but neither of them seemed to have anything to say.

Laura only let the silence linger for a moment before she got down to business. "Once the adrenalin from wrestling a snake started to wear off one of the other firemen realized he was hurting. Seems that snake got a hold of him too while he was helping to pull it off Mike. I need a second set of eyes on this one," Laura gestured with the films and lab results in her hands.

"I didn't know anyone else got caught by that beast?" Stan shifted surprised eyes back and forth between Dr. Early and Laura.

Since Dr. Early had finished with his last stitch he started to remove his sterile gloves. "That's not the least bit surprising from what I've seen in the last hour and a half. You were very busy with the business end of that so called beast."

"Doc, with a snake like that, every square inch is the business end," Stan educated the good doctor.

"Was it one of the men with a mustache," Brian added thoughtfully, "I remember him getting wrapped the same what your leg did with the other one. His captain pulled her off fairly quickly though I thought he was alright. He didn't say anything while they were pulling their hose in."

"No, he claims he didn't feel anything himself until just a few minutes ago," Laura clarified in an effort to remove any guilt.

"With all the adrenalin it took I'm not surprised. Nurse, please bandage this arm and when you're done with that will you get a fresh set of vitals," Dr. Early ordered then took the films from Laura and stepped across the room to put them on the light box.

Speaking quietly to keep her words for Dr. Early's ears only Laura gave him a report of her findings.  
"There's marked upper abdominal bruising the goes around the back over the kidneys. Vitals are good and the tenderness on palpation is mild."

Dr. Early pulled his glasses on and looked closer at the films, touching a spot and turning to Laura. "Looks like the floating ribs got pushed into the kidneys and liver. What do the labs look like?"

Dr. Early wasn't in the least bit surprised when Laura handed him the lab slips, he had worked with her for a few years now and he loved how she had everything ready for him when she came for a consultation.

"There's quite a bit of blood in the urine. Do you think the bruising is severe enough to warrant more x-rays with contrast?"

"They're being done as we speak."

"Well, at the very least he's going to have to spend a couple of nights in observation. We better get an operating room on standby until we get those next films back."

"Already done."

"Let me finish up here and then I'll meet you over there."

Just as Dr. Early turned back to his patient Dixie stuck her head in the room.

"Laura, Captain Stanley called his wife to come in and take the boys, they won't go with her though without your say so." Dixie had a smile.

"Well I hope no one would take off with my kids without my say so."

Laura was able to give her kids hugs and convince them it would be fun to go with Mrs. Stanley. The kids knew the firemen but didn't know their family members all that well, with the exception of JoAnne DeSoto; she was their care giver when both mommy and daddy were at work. Jo however was the latest one of the DeSoto family diagnosed with strep and was home sick herself now. She really shouldn't take the boys.

Emily Stanley talked to the boys about the family swing and slide but they were uninterested until Mommy called it a park and then they were ready to go.

Uncle Johnny and Uncle Marco took the boys to the potty once more before they left while Laura talked to Emily about the boys' potty training. Emily assured Laura that she had been there before and not to worry they had everything they would need to continue the potty training while they were staying with them. Keys were given to stop by the house and pick up extra panties and changes of clothes on the way to the Stanley house. Laura was assured that with three teenagers at home the boys would be well supervised.

Laura was then completely relieved of Chet's care as it was determined that both one kidney and his liver had been punctured by the floating ribs when the snake gave him a good squeeze but it looked very much like his body was healing his injuries on its own. The game plan was to watch him closely for the next forty-eight hours for signs that he needed to be rushed to surgery to sew things up. That meant that he was to get his vitals checked every fifteen minutes and have nothing to eat until the doctor declared all was clear. Once he was given the all clear Chet could expect orders for several weeks of rest to make sure he didn't start bleeding again before he fully healed.

With Chet's and her sons' care taken out of her hands Laura had nothing to do but wait. She knew the surgery was going to take some time but that didn't help pass the six hours the love of her life would spend in the operating room. Still tired from working all night the night before, Laura paced the waiting area and watched the clock and her watch, with frequent glances at the elevator doors. She did doze off once or twice but all it took was for someone in the room to move and she was awake again.

It was after 10:30 that night when word was delivered that Mike was out of surgery. It had been a long surgery and there was significant swelling caused by the trauma of it all. Nothing that wasn't expected and Mike was still expected to make a full recovery but he would be kept out of it for the next day or so.

It was a give with the crushed trachea alone that Mike would be placed in the Intensive Care Unit for the first couple of days. Once settled in the men were allowed to go in two at a time and see him. Chet was even allowed to go in a wheelchair to see his crewmate. They each needed a chance to stand back and watch his chest rise and fall with the ventilator and to see the bouncy line on the monitor promising that his heart was beating. They all wanted to see his eyes opened but understood Mike's need for sleep. They were alright with waiting for now.

The fire department supplied transportation back to the station where their cars were waiting to take them home to sort out their feelings and nightmares. Laura wanted, no needed, to stay at the hospital.

She knew her husband would wake up between doses of sedatives and that he would be disoriented and frightened at being restrained and unable to speak. If he remembered what happened to him that would be enough to send him into a total panic.

Laura needed to be there to tell him he was safe now and that he was going to be alright and to try and ease him back to sleep. All the others went home promising to be back tomorrow afternoon when they hoped Mike would be able to see them.

Hank understood Laura's needs, he had felt them himself and before he left the hospital he had assured Laura that all would be well with her boys. Once he got home Hank found he couldn't have been much farther from the truth.

When Hank walked through the door of his home he found his exasperated wife standing in the hall outside the guest room near to tears. Stepping to her side to see what the problem was he found two little boys huddled in the corner of the room stripped naked and in complete tears.

Taking a minute to listen to his wife the story began to unfold.

Emily had assured Laura that she could handle the potty training of her sons. And she was sure she could even though they no longer had a small training potty at their house. Those things just never totally cleaned up after the child progressed to the big potty and since they were inexpensive to replace for the next child once her children had graduated the little potty was ceremoniously added to the trash bin. What she did have was a wooden step stool painted like a pony and a special seat to add to the toilet that reduced the size of the toilet seat to fit the smaller bottoms.

The boys had been all right with this change. Potty training for them had been an adventure and using different potties was actually fun for them. The problem arose in that there was only one special potty seat and the boys were accustomed to going to the potty at the same time and not yet accustomed to waiting their turn. There had been several accidents caused by this waiting and when it came time to put the boys to bed for the night all of the panties that had been in the diaper bag were soiled. In Emily's mind that left only one alternative. After the boys bath she put them in diapers for the night.

This was done to the boys crying, "no bipers, big boy now."

As soon as she had turned her back the boys had taken their diapers off and were naked from the waist down. When she put them back on, needing her older children to help hold them down so she could, she then added one piece pajamas that they just happened to have around the house. Her thought was that the boys wouldn't be able to get their diapers off if they were wearing one piece pajamas.

It took them a little longer than before but they did remove their clothes and now they were terrified, tired, confused, and crying as they huddled together in the corner of the closet. Neither Emily nor her older children had been able to get near them without them screaming in panic for the last half hour. Hank decided he needed to give it a try.


	13. Chapter 13 comforting Touch

The Comforting Touch

Hank started by instructing his wife to put two large towels in the dryer to get them warm before he crawled into the room to make himself look smaller to the boys. He then sat on the floor just in front of the closet with his legs crossed in front of him and started talking softly to the boys.

When the warmed towels were tossed in to him a short time later they included two pair of freshly laundered training panties. Taking the warmed towels in his lap Hank scooted closer to the boys and draped the towels around them as he continued to talk to them. In time, nearly half an hour after he started Hank was able to pull the towel wrapped boys into his lap and help them put their panties back on.

Hank held and rocked the small boys in his lap until he thought they were calmed down and then began to move them over to the mattress that had been placed on the floor for them to sleep on.

"NO! Not my bed," one boy cried clinging tightly to Hank's neck and shirt to keep from being put in the bed.

"My bunnies," the other boy cried as he too clung tightly to Hank's clothes. Hank knew from his talks with Mike that the boy was referring to the little animals painted on the wall of their room. Mike had told him that his boys called them all bunnies even though there were puppies, kitties, pigs, sheep and other animals in the mural painted by his mother before the boys were born.

"My banky," the first boy cried as well.

It seemed to Hank that the boys were as afraid of that mattress on the floor as he had been of the huge snake. As much as he knew his wife had meant no harm to the boys he also knew that her actions of holding them down to put diapers on them had traumatized them.

Once again Hank pulled the boys close and held them tight as he rocked them. When an hour later they were still nowhere near calm enough to go to sleep Hank made the decision to take them to their home and put them to bed in their beds.

The diaper bag was repacked with the clothes that had just come out of the dryer and Hank's oldest daughter volunteered to come along. She was sure her daddy needed help taking care of such small children; he hadn't babysat for years to her knowledge.

The boys actually fell asleep in the car as they were driving but they awoke again once they were lifted out of the car. The two boys were carried into the house and Hank could tell by the relaxing muscles on the child he carried that they were happier to be home. The boys were carried strait to their room and allowed to kiss the bunnies on the wall before they were lifted into a bed and covered up with their blanky.

Hank then stepped back and after making sure their little night lights were working turned out all of the other lights in the house.

"Thanks for coming Krissy, why don't you take the guest room there and I'll crash on the sofa till morning. Then we'll figure out what to do next."

Kristen was just giving her father a good night kiss on his cheek when they noticed one of the boys getting out of his bed. Choosing not to act right away they watched as the boy went to the other bed and shook his brother. The other boy then got up and ran to the other bed while the first boy pulled a box out from under the bed and pulled a stuffed animal out of the box before getting into the bed he had just woke his brother up from. The continued to watch as the boys settled down in the opposite beds they had been placed in and when Hank was sure they were asleep again he moved in and tucked them in before heading for the sofa to deal with what he was sure would become night mares if he allowed himself to fall asleep.

-0-

At the hospital Laura was superglued in the chair at her husband's bedside at least as far as the hospital staff was concerned. She had snuck into his patient file to find out the time his last shot was given and knew within a few minutes when he would be waking up.

As she sat at his side she held the hand on his uninjured arm and rubbed it with her thumb. She had been tempted to check the reaction in his feet but she had been able to feel a subtle squeeze of her hand and had noticed involuntary movement in his feet. She was sure there was no spinal impairment.

When the heart monitor registered a quickening heart beat and the respirator alarms sounded Laura was quick to stand up at the side of the bed and start talking to her husband.

"It's alright, Mike, you're safe. You're going to be alright." Laura repeated those words several times as she both held his hand and brushed the side of his face with her other hand.

"Can you open your eyes for me, Mike?" Laura coaxed as she continued to brush the side of his face.

Laura watched as Mike swallowed and tried to move his lips, "Don't try to talk Mike, it's okay, you're going to be all right, but they had to do a tracheotomy. You're alright but your voice won't work right now."

Slowly Mike calmed down and then his eyes fluttered then opened. It looked as if it was quite a chore for him to get them opened.

Laura's emotions began to surface again but she swallowed them back, "Have I told you lately what beautiful eyes you have?"

The corners of Mike's mouth rose slightly before he started to look around.

"You're in the intensive care unit. I demanded the very best for my guy," Mike turned back and locked eyes with his wife. "You're going to be alright. You gave us a bit of a scare there for a moment but everything is under control now."

Mike pulled at the restraint on his uninjured hand. It was just a soft restraint just tight enough to keep him from pulling out his trach tube but still allowing him some movement. When he couldn't touch what he was aiming for Mike pointed.

"It's just temporary, they'll take it out in a day or two as soon as you can breathe without it."

Laura then watched as he turned his head against the traction sling set up around his head. She was comforted that he was able to move so well with little sign that he was causing him pain. In time she realized that he was trying to see his arm.

"It's okay Mike, your arm is there. You're all in one piece. You've got a couple of broken bones and they had to get the Erector Set out to put you back together but they expect a full recovery. The reason you can't feel it is because they've given you a nerve block to control the pain." Mike shifted his eyes back to his wife. "Trust me, that's a good thing. You're in for a couple of days that won't be so fun but once those bones heal you'll be as good as new."

"Do you remember what happened?" Laura tested the waters hoping to help him deal with the emotional trauma that he was sure to experience.

Mike thought for a moment before carefully shaking his head negatively.

"Can you trust me that that's a good thing right now too and not try to remember for a little while?"

Mike gave her a questioning look.

"I know you're going to need to talk about it when you do remember. It will be better if you don't remember before you can talk."

Mike's eyes showed some understanding to what his wife was saying but she could also tell he was trying to remember. She made mental note not to ask him that question again. Gratefully Laura noticed the nurse move in with a syringe and knew what it was.

"It's time for you to go back to sleep, we'll continue this conversation when you wake up again." Laura waved the nurse onward.

Mike's eyes flashed with urgency as he mouthed the word 'boys'.

Laura smiled, what better thoughts to leave him with as he went back to sleep. "The boys are fine; they're staying with the Stanleys. They miss you but I told them that you needed to have a sleep over at Mommy's work for a few days. They think you're getting lots of cake, ice cream and balloons."

Mike smiled and gave the closest thing to a giggle he was capable of before drifting back to sleep under the effects of the medication being injected into his IV port. The last thing he felt was his wife kiss his forehead and then nothing but peace.

-0-

Hank did manage to fall asleep despite himself. His next awareness of the world around him was when he heard Laura talking.

"Mom, I'm glad your home, I need you to sit down a minute. Mike's going to be alright but he went down on the job yesterday. No he's stable and the doctors are saying that they expect a full recovery. It's just that he got his airway crushed and he had us hopping for a while there. They had to put a tube into his throat below where it was crushed in order for him to breathe but once they did that it was just a matter of repairing his broken bones. Yes they were also able to repair his throat; they should be able to remove the trach tube in a few days. He's in intensive care for a day or two and he'll be down for a few weeks while his bones heal but he'll be pulling hose and fighting fires again before we know it.

You're always welcome to stay with us. I'll make sure your room is ready and I'm sure it will be a comfort for Mike to see you. Just be sure to drive carefully and I'll be at the hospital when you get here. Just have me paged. See you when you get here."

Hank forced himself to sit up as Laura came out of the kitchen and jumped with a start when she saw him.

"Morning," Hank yawned.

"Moring, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Yeah, well the boys didn't handle sleeping away from home so well. It was the only way we could settle them down and get them to sleep. How's Mike's mom doing?" Hank really didn't want to go into any details about what happened at his place.

"She's doing alright. She'd be a whole lot better if I hadn't have just scared her half to death," Laura answered looking Hank over. "She'll be here in a few hours. How are you doing? I checked with Chet this morning before I left. He's annoyed at being woken up every time he gets to sleep but his vitals are holding good. If the lab work this morning looks good they'll cut back on the vital checks and if he stays good they'll probably let him go home tomorrow as long as he agrees to take it easy for a few days."

"That's good," Hank still wasn't ready to answer the question Laura had thrown in to her information. "How's Mike doing this morning?"

"He woke up a little over an hour ago. As expected he was disoriented and not sure where he was there for a while. I told him everything is going to be alright and he managed to calm down before they put him back to sleep."

"Mommy!" was heard from the hallway and one little boy wearing only training panties came running to throw his arms around his mother's leg. Laura knelt down and the arms were soon around her neck as a second boy came running and added his arms to his mommy's neck. Laura was quick to register the tears in the boys' eyes and the strength with which the boys were holding on and realized that things had not gone well at all at the Stanley home, which would explain why she had a fire captain sleeping on her sofa and a sleepy teenager coming out of her guest room.

Laura did manage to get the boys to go to their potties and then sit them down to some cold cereal while she took a shower. The boys did eat but they kept mistrusting eyes on Hank and his daughter while they did so.

While Laura was in her room she made a phone call to the emergency day care at the hospital and secured places for her two boys during the day time hours for as long as Mike was in the hospital. When she was showered and dressed she walked back into the kitchen with a piece of paper in her hands.

"Mommy's got a surprise for you boys." She spoke with excitement in her efforts to get them to buy in to her plans.

Hank and Kristen helped to get the boys' little bags packed with several changes of clothes and all the training panties in the drawer divided evenly between the two while Laura got her boys dressed. She was the only person they trusted to help them get dressed.

Once Hank waved Laura off as she drove to the hospital he and his daughter went in and changed the sheets on the guest bed so that it would be ready for Mike's mom when she got there and then Hank took his daughter home.

Once there Hank could see that his wife was still devastated by her night with the boys and took her into his arms. Sitting in his favorite chair Hank pulled his wife onto his lap and held on as she rested her head on his shoulder and tried real hard to keep her tears silent.

"Em, I don't know if I can find the words to tell you how much I appreciate you. I don't think you have any idea how much it meant to me when you just jumped in at a moment's notice to take care of Mike's two boys in the middle of the crisis. Laura told me to tell you that she's sorry they were a problem but that she was grateful that you were willing to help out when everything was so crazy."

Emily finally looked into her husband's eyes her own filled with tears. "I've never, not been able to calm a child down before."

"Everything was off for those two boys. I think I need to make more of an effort for the extended station family to get to know each other. The boys didn't know you all that well and that was part of the problem."

Hank pulled his wife back into a tight hug and rubbed her back. "I also want to thank you for bringing all of my offspring into this world one at a time. I think they're a little easier to handle that way."

Emily giggled into her husband's shoulder and had to agree.


	14. Chapter 14 Restoring Calm

Restoring Calm

Laura was far too tired to be driving and she knew it. Because of that she was trying to be more conscious of the road around her than usual. She did however encourage her boys to talk, if nothing else than their talking would help her stay awake.

It was clear by their tone that their stay with the Stanleys had been difficult for them but Laura felt certain that Emily hadn't done anything to intentionally hurt them. It was just that they were in unfamiliar surroundings and with all that was going on in their life right now that had been a little too much for their young minds to deal with.

As much as Laura listened though she didn't really understand a whole lot of what her boys were saying. Something about a broken potty house, Laura could only guess that was the shed in the Stanley's back yard. All the chatter about an, 'other potty,' was lost on her though.

Thankfully the drive to the hospital was short and Laura was soon unbuckling her boys and taking them by the hand while they each carried their own little bags. Laura deliberately entered through the emergency entrance because that was a place the boys had seen before. As they walked, Laura talked to the boys about a special place at Mommy's work were they could play with other kids and make pictures for Daddy to help him get better.

From the Emergency Department Laura walked her boys through the waiting area and into the corridor beyond that led to the Emergency Family Daycare.

When they reached the door the boys stopped and Laura allowed them to just stand in the doorway for a few minutes to look around. While they looked Laura pointed out the table with all the finger paints and markers and paper, she also brought their attention to the other kids in the room before pointing out at the little park outside a big window.

"Where potty house?" Gregory stretched his head trying to see.

"They don't have an outside potty house here just one inside, do you want to go see it?" Laura was sure that her boys didn't need to go potty again this soon after they had gone at home but clearly there was something about the bathroom facilities at the Stanley home that had troubled them.

Reluctantly the boys allowed themselves to be led into the bathroom as one of the care givers followed along. Laura was grateful the Day Care Staff person was letting her do all of the talking so far. As they entered the bathroom the boy's eyes opened wide. There were regular porcelain commodes but they were small to accommodate the children's size but most of all there were three of them.

"Nother potty," Mikey called out excitedly as he let go of his mother's hand and pointed to the second toilet in the room. "And other potty!" he exclaimed as he pointed to the third.

Suddenly Laura understood all the talk in the car. "Yes there are enough potties for both of you."

From the bathroom the boys were led to the nap room. Before they went in Laura placed her finger over her mouth and told the boys that they had to be very quiet in this room. The boys were shown the three different types of places they could rest. There were mats that could be unrolled on the floor, there were some of the newfangled bean bag chairs in a corner and there were also a large number of cots that were stacked along one wall. Two of the cots were in use at the moment by two other children and Laura noticed that they were resting but not sleeping.

After the boys had seen what was there they all stepped outside the room again and Laura talked to them quietly. "If you get tired and need to rest while you're here this room is where you'll go. But before it's time to go night-night Mommy will be back and take you home so that you can go night-night in your own beds. Okay?"

The boys seemed to feel a separation was coming so they took hold of their mother's arms and held on tight. Laura didn't pull away she just let them hold on and continued to talk to them Looking at the name tag of the staff member that had been following them Laura pointed her out. "Ginger here is going to watch over you while you're here. If you need anything you can ask Ginger and she'll help you find it. If you get frightened you can ask Ginger to call Mommy and Mommy will come right down and talk with you. It's going to be alright, Mommy is going to stay in the building, she'll just be in another room helping take care of Daddy.

The boys were still apprehensive as they were led to the main desk where name tags were made for them.

"Let me see, your name is Mike, right?" Ginger talked as she started to write the name on a sticky tag

"Mikey," the boy corrected.

"Alright, Mikey it is. See?" Ginger showed him his tag and then wrote two more. One was to be placed on the shirt in the middle of the boy's back, so he wouldn't peel it off as was the plan. A second one was placed on the front of the shirt for the boys to see, for as long as it managed to stay there. The third one was saved for a minute.

"And if I'm not mistaken you must be Greg," Ginger turned her attention to the next little boy. Ginger was an older woman perhaps in her late forties with silver blond hair and a slightly larger than healthy girth. She was gentle and patient in her mannerisms and willing to give the boys their space. Laura could see that she was wining the boys over and just let her do the talking for now.

"Gegoree," he corrected.

"Gregory," Ginger repeated as she made the three tags and then placed the first two just as she had with his brother.

Once the boys were tagged they were led to a section of shelves where bins were set and each boy was allowed to stick their tag on their own bin and place their bags in them. The tags were far from strait but that was okay, you could see from across the room which bin was theirs and that was all that mattered. The boys were then led to the craft table and encouraged to color a picture while Laura sat next to them and filled out a short stack of papers on the boys.

When the papers were filled out Laura gave each of her boys a kiss and a hug then hugged them together. "I'm going to go see Daddy now but if you need me you can tell Ginger here and she'll call me okay."

The boys looked at Ginger with uncertainty but they didn't refuse to stay.

"I'll be back to see you at lunch time and we can eat lunch together, okay?"

"Tay," the boys agreed to that and Laura slipped out of the room and out of sight but stayed for a moment where she could watch the boys using a mirror at the ceiling. Once she saw the boys going back to their pictures she made her way to the ICU and Mike's side.

Mike was looking much better and his heart rate showed that he was calm. Laura was told by the nurse on her arrival that she had just missed the doctors doing their rounds but that all was as well in fact better than was expected. The plan was to do a swallow study in a couple of hours where they would feed Mike small bites of food and then watch him swallow it through x-ray to make sure he could handle that well and if he did they would start him on a liquid diet to be upgraded as he was able.

Laura knew that if there was any indication that Mike would choke on his food they would be putting in a feeding tube this afternoon, she looked long and hard at the discoloration on his neck and felt there was a good chance that the damage was low enough that it wouldn't be a big problem. She felt assured that all would be well and began to relax a little as well.

Mike was just starting to stir again when Laura noticed Mom in the doorway. She gave her a tired smile and waved her in to her son's side.

"He's doing really well considering," Laura wrapped her arm around her mother-in-law and gave her a sideways squeeze. "He's starting to wake up now so your timing is great, although I'm sure you drove a little faster than the speed limit to get here." Laura smiled and gave another hug.

Mike's eyes opened at the sound of talking at his side, and he managed a smile for his mother.

"Michael, you are a sight. How are you feeling this morning?" Mom asked.

"He can't talk right now," Laura informed her with a slight point to the trach tube.

"Well I'm used to that." Mom took hold of Mike's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Mike here was the master pointer when he was growing up. I don't think he spoke a word until he was three and then his first word was 'Fire Truck'."

Mike smiled as his mother giggled. It wasn't long before Mike was looking tired so they let him go back to sleep knowing he would do better in his swallow study if he was rested.

When Laura walked back into the day care her children were excited do see her but even more excited to see Grandma coming in behind her.

"Nana!"

"Nana!" the boys ran right past their mother into their Grandmother's arms. After a greeting hug the boys started talking in rapid fire panic.

"Nana, Daddy braked just like your horsey," Gregory started.

"Can't touch him till hims goo dries and he hast'a stay at Mommy's work for a long, long time," Mikey added.

"He can't eben go home for night-night." Gregory added and Laura realized that the boys were more traumatized by Mike's hospital stay than she had realized. She had hoped because he spent the night at the fire station whenever he was on shift that the boys wouldn't have as hard of time with the situation for the first few days at least but it sounded like maybe they were a little upset about it.

Laura had ordered lunch for not only her boys and herself but also her mother-in-law so the four of them sat down together at a table that was a little low to the ground for Mommy and Grandma, but they didn't mind, and ate their lunch, comfort food for the boys of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs with cooked carrots and apple slices. Laura and Elaine Stoker each had a fish platter and though they didn't really taste anything it was filling. After lunch Laura showed her boys where to carry their trays to and then after washing up and a potty drill she coaxed them to lay down on one of the big bean bag chairs in the nap room with her.

Elaine sat with Ginger and watched as Laura fell asleep first but the boys soon followed, each one was holding tight to a piece of their mother's blouse.

Ginger and Elaine worked together to cover the three up with a light weight blanket and then Elaine left them in Ginger's capable watch while she returned to her son's side.

-0-

Mike passed his swallow studies with flying colors and his mother was thrilled to spoon feed him some jello and soup broth. Mike understood, as Elaine knew he would, that Laura had finally fallen asleep and they intended to let her stay that way as long as she would. Mike just mouthed the words 'Thank You' between bites of food.

The rest of the guys from the station came in just as Mike had finished his late lunch. They too were happy to see him doing so well and only slightly uncomfortable with his inability to speak. From there they all went to Chet's room where the department crisis counselor would join them for a group gab session. None of them had slept well the night before but after seeing Mike they were all feeling a little better and the thought of talking about their ordeal was a welcome event.

"I'm sure your crewmate will need to catch up with you men once he's able to speak," the counselor commented toward the close of the session.

"Nah, his wife will take care of him. She's one of the leading experts in the psyche of rescue workers," Chet spoke up. He was sure Laura had already started talking Mike through what he remembered by now.

"Yes, I've been informed that she's written a few books on the mental aspect of being a rescue worker," the counselor commented but it was clear by the tone of his voice that he probably hadn't read any of those books and he didn't seem to be as impressed with Laura Elmer Stoker as the rest of the men in the room were. "I'm sure she's never dealt with snakes before though."

"I don't know, I think she talked about killing a couple of cobras and an anaconda once." Johnny defended his friend's wife, someone who had helped him through more than a few bad runs.

When Laura would learn of this conversation several days later, she was real quick to tell them all, that she took an ax to one snake and a shovel to the other two but never once touched even a single scale of their bodies.

-0-

Laura felt the gentle shake of her shoulders as she heard her mother-in-law telling her it was time to wake up. Laura managed to roll over in the bean bag chair and shake the sleep from her head before she took in the sight of her two boys.

They had woken up long before she did and Ginger had gotten them involved with some finger painting. Now their faces, arms and shirts were covered in finger paint. To say they looked like they were wearing war paint wasn't even slightly accurate as the paint was just haphazardly all over them in every color that had been available to them.

"I'm sorry I didn't get them washed up," Ginger apologized. Although she had not washed them on purpose hoping their painted bodies would bring a much needed laugh to their mother. "I assure you it is washable paint."

Laura didn't laugh but she did smile a big genuine smile. "No don't wash them up; I'll bathe them when we get home."

"We haffa go, Mommy, they going to lock a doors," one of the boys commented slightly worried, Laura was still waking up and wasn't sure which one had said that but she was grateful for the sleep.

"That's okay; we can go home and sleep in our own beds tonight."

Laura borrowed the phone at the desk to make a quick call and then from the day care they all went up to the ICU.

-0-

"Mike," the nurse managed to wake him with just her voice. He turned to see what she wanted with a friendly smile. "You have some special visitors; your wife has your two sons on the other side of that window there to see you. Are you up to that?"

Mike smiled and nodded his head in a very affirmative manner.

"I'm just going to cover your trach tube with this towel so we don't frighten them. Is that alright?"

Mike again nodded then added a mouthed 'thank you' as the towel was placed over his tubing. He then operated his own bed controls to sit up a little more before the nurse took a hold of the foot of the bed and turned it so that Mike was more fully facing the window.

Another nurse pulled the drapers over the window and if Mike could have he'd have laughed out loud at what he saw.

Standing on something to make them tall enough to see through the window were two rainbow colored boys with great big smiles for their Daddy. Mike could hear them call out "Daddy," as they waved their arms and blew him kisses through the window. He was aware of his wife and mother quieting them down and pointing to the next rooms while saying something. Mike was sure the boys were being told to be quiet so they didn't wake up the other patients.

The nurse left the room and returned with two finger painted pictures. Mike had no idea what so ever they were supposed to be but he knew they were for him from his sons.

Mike managed to smile at his boys and raise his hand giving them a finger wave before blowing them a couple of kisses of his own. Before he was ready the drapes were drawn again and his bed was being pushed back into it proper position. Before he fell asleep again the nurse taped his paintings to the wall were he could easily see them and he fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	15. Chapter 15 Daddy's Way

Daddy's Way

Laura hefted her two painted boys off the desk top and carried them away. She continued to shush them all the way to the elevator but once the elevator doors closed, "Alright you can laugh as loud as you want now."

As the elevator worked its way down to the main floor Laura set her boys on their feet at her side and laughed with them. She could tell by the look on Mike's face that he had enjoyed seeing the paint all over the boys' faces as much as she did. She had managed to sneak a peek at his chart while she was waiting for the nurse to set things up and was pleased to read that the doctor was planning to move Mike out of intensive care the next day. He was getting better, he was going to be alright but Laura still needed to put a plan together for how to deal with him and his needs and the boys and their needs and her expected return to work. She looked over at her mother-in-law and knew she'd do whatever she could but Laura also knew from past experience that Elaine couldn't keep up with the boys for very long. Once she returned to work the in hospital day care wouldn't work with her shift hours and there was no way Mike was going to be able to handle the boys for several weeks.

She gave the boys another glance and smiled again at the paint all over them. Once they made it home Laura set out to fix a quick dinner for the four of them while Grandma took care of getting the boys in the bath tub. It took a little while and a little extra scrubbing but the boys did emerge from the bathtub looking of a whitish pink again. While Laura and Elaine worked together to get them dressed Gregory and Michael ran around the room pointing at all the animals.

"This is lamby bunny, and this is puppy bunny, this is titty bunny," and so forth Elaine just giggled at the boys antics and clapped her hands each time they named a picture on the wall. This was the first time she had been at the house since the boys started really talking and she hadn't heard their chatter about all the different bunnies. She didn't even try to correct them but that was a good thing because as Mike had found out earlier there was no correcting them. Those were all bunnies and no one could tell them differently.

Both Mike and Laura suspected that it was just a game with these boys but they did get slightly frustrated with them and their stubbornness sometimes. It usually ended with the two parents looking in a mirror and admitting that the boys came by it honestly.

"Do you boys know who painted those fun animals on your wall for you?" Laura had deliberately let the boys carry on showing Elaine how much they enjoyed the special gift she had given them.

"No," the boys said together and shook their heads.

"Grandma Elaine painted all of these animals for you." Laura spoke with excitement in her voice as she watched Elaine bloom with a blushing smile. "Don't you think you can give Grandmamma Elaine a big hug for painting them for you?"

The boys gladly ran to their grandmother with big hugs and sloppy wet kisses before they were finally lead to the table to eat their dinner.

The boys were starting to get droopy eyed before their dinner was finished so Laura hurried them off to the potty before helping them wash their hands and brush their teeth she then pulled their favorite bed time story from the book shelf and sat down coaxing the boys to sit next to her. Little Mikey just yanked the book out of Laura's hands.

"Daddy story," the child looked angry as he talked to his mother.

"Okay, let's go pick out another night-night story." Laura was shocked by his response but chose not to challenge him at the moment.

Together Laura and her two boys walked to the book case where Laura chose another story about settling down for the night. The whole time that she read it Mikey kept the special book held tightly to his chest. Because the boys were so tired by the time they had finished one bed time story there was no pleading for more as was usual for them. The boys were picked up and carried off to bed with Grandma carrying one of them. Before Mikey would snuggle into bed he stuffed his special book under his pillow and Laura spent some extra time tucking them in and telling them that Daddy would be home in a few days. She kissed her boys on their cheeks and made sure they had their stuffed animals under their arms.

"You possed to kiss us on the hair," Gregory informed pointing to the top of his head and the place his father always kissed him good night.

Laura gave a faint smile and did as she was told. She turned out the light looking at the corner of the book showing under her young son's pillow. There was no way Mike was going to be able to read that book to his boys and then carry them off to bed the way he did before the accident. At least not for several weeks.

As she stepped out of the room Elaine could tell that the sleep her daughter-in-law had gotten in the day care wasn't enough, she was still clearly very stressed.

"Now let's get you to bed," Elaine tried to influence.

"In a little while," Laura stalled with a smile, "I have a few phone calls I need to make and I better run some laundry."

"Alright you make your phone calls and I'll run the laundry."

Laura's first call was to Emily Stanley, to apologize for her sons' behavior and to let her know that there were no hard feelings. She also talked to Hank and gave him an update on Mike's progress.

The next call was to JoAnne DeSoto. "How are you feeling?" Laura started the conversation, Laura was able to assure JoAnne that she still had a job as her day care but that she would use the in hospital day care for at least another day possibly two. It worked while Mike was in the hospital but wouldn't once she went back to work. They talked a lot about Mike's needs once she went back to work and her fears of the boys climbing all over him and reinjuring him especially his throat and neck.

For the most part JoAnne just listened and understood and when she hung up she talked to her husband about the needs Mike would have when he got home. Roy called Cap and then Johnny and one of them called Marco, and then someone called Chet who had managed to get the doctors to let him go home with his sister a day earlier than planned.

Laura managed to get the laundry, which included all of the soiled training panties, into the dryer and then turned in for the night.

The next morning Laura arose early and started making a list. Her husband would be coming home soon and he was going to need a lot of things to make him comfortable for the first few days. After packing her husband a suitcase with his underwear, his pajamas and his robe and slippers, Laura took a quick shower and dressed before pulling the training panties from the dryer and packing her boys' bags. She then started a warm breakfast before going and waking her sons and herding them off to the bathroom.

When Laura returned to the kitchen she found her mother-in-law finishing breakfast and gave her a grateful smile.

"I think Mike's going to need some special kinds of foods for a few days until his trachea has completely healed. I'll be finding out the specifics today then we can go shopping on our way home tonight." I'll have to go back to work day after tomorrow on the early shift. I'm hoping one of Mike's friends would be willing to stay here and help out if Mike needs it."

"I'm planning to stay for a few days, I can help my son," Elaine declared.

"Mom, I know you can help Mike and I'm sure he'll be grateful but if Mike were to become dizzy or start to fall, you're just not big enough to keep Mike from hitting the ground and getting hurt as he falls." Laura stepped in front of Mike's mother and looked her in the eyes. "I will be counting on you to see to it that Mike, the boys and the volunteer help are well fed. I'm sure you know by now that a fireman can almost eat his weight in food."

Elaine smiled at Laura and had to admit she was right about her not being able to steady Mike if he were light headed. "Mike was able to eat his weight in food long before he was a fireman. Why do you think he learned how to make such great spaghetti?"

Laura left Elaine and returned to her boys to help them wash their hands and get dressed. As she did so she talked to them about returning to the day care and reminded them that all they had to do is ask the lady to call mommy if they needed her. They weren't jumping up and down with joy at going back but they weren't complaining about going either. Laura gave each boy and extra hug and told them how proud of them she was.

This time when Laura took the boys to the nursery she stopped inside the door and told them that she needed to hurry because, "Mommy wants to talk to Daddy's doctor this morning."

Grandma offered to stay and help the boys settle in and Laura was again grateful. She hurried to the elevator to get to the ICU department in hopes of seeing Mike's doctors when they did their rounds.

When Laura stepped up to the door to Mike's room she found the throat specialist holding his thumb over the end of Mike's trach tube. She knew that he was testing her husband's ability to breathe around the tube and the mostly calm look on Mike's face told her that he didn't feel suffocated and was able to get enough air. This was happening at least a day possibly two days sooner than Laura had expected and she was pleasantly surprised. The trach tube was soon removed and a bandage was taped over the opening that closed up nicely. Mike was coached to place a little pressure on the bandage with his hand in order to speak and he was able to get out a slightly garbled "Thank you, Doctor."

"Now that trachea is still vulnerable, you are going to need to be very careful for the next several weeks. I understand that you have two small children. They won't be able to give Daddy here a tight hug for at least three weeks and no passionate necking for that long as well." The doctor gave Laura a teasing smile. "There is a protective brace I would normally use but with his collar bone broken in as many pieces as it is, that's not a good idea here."

"I can be patient. We have plenty of time after he's healed to catch up with each other. And I'll make sure the boys understand they have to be careful with Daddy. We'll just have to keep telling them that the glue isn't dried yet."

With the injury to your larynx I expect it will be several weeks as well before you are able to speak with a normal voice. As it is, your voice will get tired quickly and after a few words you may find that you can't speak again until you give it a rest. Just keep reminding yourself that you need time to recover and don't push it too hard and fast and you'll be alright."

The doctor left and Laura moved in for a quick kiss on the lips before taking Mike's head in her hands and pulling him close for a kiss to his forehead.

"Love you," Mike rasped out.

"I love you more." Laura smiled with moist eyes as the orthopedic surgeon came in on his rounds.

He too was pleased that the trach tube had been removed and informed Mike that he was to be evicted from the VIP room and sent to a room for mere mortals. Before he left he threw up the post surgical x-rays showing Mike all his hardware and making a joke about all the weight he'd gained before calling him the bionic man.

When he got a look at his x-rays Mike got wide eyed and looked at Laura accusingly. "You said a couple of fractures."

"Ye-ah," Laura grimaced, "That would be a couple in each bone found in the region of your shoulder. I didn't want to overwhelm you before you were recovered a little."

Mike looked back at his x-rays still with wide eyes and had plenty he wanted to say but his voice had given out. He now knew what the doctor meant by his voice needing a little rest.

Once the doctor left Mike was helped up to move around a little and to walk to the bathroom. He was then given a sponge bath since his incisions were still too fresh for any other kind of a bath just yet.

Since Mike was going to be moved to a regular room just as soon as he was cleaned up Laura was allowed to help him into his own pajamas and his pajama top was draped around his immobilized shoulder leaving the sleeve to hang empty at his side.

Laura took a hold of Mike's face and pulled his gaze away from the hanging sleeve. "The doctor said that you'll need to keep that arm still for a couple of weeks and then with careful supervision you'll be able to start working on your range of motion before it's been compromised by inactivity. That's something that couldn't happen if they hadn't pinned and screwed and otherwise hardwared you back together again."

Laura helped Mike into the wheel chair that was sent to take him to his new room. It was a tall backed wheel chair with a head rest to support his injured neck and throat muscles. Once he was seated Laura sat knelt down in front of him and placed his slippers on his feet before setting them in foot rests of the wheel chair. She then reached up once again and placed her hand tenderly at the side of Mike's face.

"Do you remember what happened to put you in here?"

Mike nodded his head carefully before reaching up to place pressure on his throat with his fingers so that he could rasp out the word, 'some'.

"You're safe now, is that going to be enough to get you by until you can talk a little better?"

Mike looked into Laura's loving eyes and treasured the safety he felt with her hand at the side of his face. "Think so," Mike assured then took his hand from his throat and took hold of Laura's hand that rested on his leg. "Know you'll be there for me, when ready."

The two shared warm moist smiles and comfortable silence.

"I can tell you're getting tired," Laura broke the silence. "We better get you to your new room so you can get a nap before lunch."

Mike took a hold of Laura's hand and pulled it to his mouth to give it a kiss. Laura stood and kissed Mike's forehead then stepped behind the wheel chair and started moving it onward.

Elaine met up with her son and daughter-in-law as she was getting off the elevator just as Laura was pushing Mike on to take him to his new room.

Her face lit up with a smile as she saw her son. "You're breathing on your own now!"

Mike smiled and took a hold of his mother's hand as they got in the elevator and rode the rest of the way to his new room. Once they had helped Mike into his new bed even he had to admit he was ready for a short nap. Laura gave him another kiss and then left his mother to watch over his sleep while she started to order and make arraignments to have delivered the special pillows and supplies Mike was going to need. She knew being who she was and the training she had the doctors would let Mike go home sooner than they would another patient.

Laura returned to Mike's room in time to see his mother feeding him his lunch and before lunch was over two paramedics stopped by after bringing a patient into the ER.

"Hey, you're out of intensive care!" John exclaimed.

"Roy's back to work, I see," Laura responded to the visit trying to prevent her husband from wearing out is voice.

Mike did place his hand to his throat and rasped out, "Thank you, my life."

The men clearly understood, "Just doin' my Job, man," Johnny responded fighting to hide his emotion.

"From what I've heard and seen on TV I think I picked the right shift to take off sick," Roy joked.

Mike was saved from saying anything more when the handy talkie started singing the song that told them they were needed somewhere.

After another short nap Mike's mom and nurse steadied him on a walk to the lobby area near the elevator where Laura was waiting with two little boys who were very excited to see their daddy.

"Now remember we have to let Daddy sit down first," Laura held her boys back. As soon as Mike was eased into a chair among a bank of chairs Laura got her boys attention once again. "Now remember what we talked about, you have to hug Daddy's legs not around his neck."

When Laura finally allowed her boys to move forward that were each wrapped around one of Mike's legs faster than anyone was prepared for. Mike was able to give each boy a pat on the head with his good arm and then little Gregory managed to climb up on the chair next to the one Mike was sitting in.

Picking up the loose hanging sleeve Gregory looked inside of it.

"AW gone," the little boy looked alarmed.

"No Daddy's arm is just strapped to his chest so it can heal better," Laura calmed her son as Mike worked his hand through the buttons on his pajamas to show his wiggling fingers.

"See, Daddy's hand is right here," Mike rasped out for his boys.

The panic on the boys' faces grew with Mike's words and Mikey started running down the hall to where Dr. Brackett had just come out of one patient room and was headed into the next room on his rounds. Mikey grabbed a hand full of his lab coat and started to tug. When Kell turned his attention to the young boy he started to talk fast and worried.

"You put wrong words, in my daddy mouth!"

"What?" Dr. Brackett looked to the young boy at his side with a fist full of his lab coat. He hadn't really understood what the boy wanted but he was clearly upset about something. What was it the young boy had said, wrong words?

It had been a while since he had been accused of putting words into someone's mouth but he was sure that this young child meant something other than he had previously been accused of.

Looking around for someone to translate and for whom this child belonged to Kell found Laura in the lobby area wrestling with another boy that was the mirror image of the one holding onto his lab coat. Realizing who the child was Kell looked down at the boy. "Why don't you take me to your daddy and we'll see if we can figure out what the problem is."

That was all the invitation Mikey needed and he began to run as fast as his little legs would carry him back to his daddy's side, but he made sure he kept a tight hold on the doctors lab coat and Dr. Brackett made sure he kept up with the boy so the lab coat didn't get torn.

When he reached the gathered group he found Laura holding the second twin while he was trying to look inside his father's mouth. Laura, Mike's nurse and his mother were laughing uncontrollably and Mike was holding his injured arm in obvious pain as he shook uncontrollably in his own painful laughter.

"Not daddy in there," Gregory called to the doctor as he pointed inside his father's mouth.


	16. Chapter 16 Daddy's Home

Daddy's Home

Four doctors were nearly falling out of their chairs in full out laughter after Kell had told about the boys' reaction to their father's voice. "It took me and their mother nearly an hour to explain to them that their dad's voice just needed some time to heal and then it would sound the same as it did before. I'm sure glad Laura has made arraignments for someone to help with the boys because both she and her husband are going to need it. I've heard it said that laughter is the best medicine but I'm not so sure Mr. Stoker agrees. According to the nurses' notes they had to give him some serious pain killers to get his pain and muscle spasms settled down after his sons' visit."

"He's eager to get out of the hospital and Mrs. Stoker is clearly qualified to take care of him at home. I've been very impressed by the way his wife has been educating their small children but is she really going to be able to keep them from climbing all over their father? It looks to me as if they have had a rather rough and tumble relationship up till now. What about when she returns to work?"

Kell Brackett leaned forward in his chair and took on a very serious look with a comforting smile. "What you doctors have failed to add in is the fact that Mike Stoker is a fireman. He has been part of a very large brotherhood for some time and has stepped in to help many of his fellow firemen when they've fallen, especially when they fall in the line of duty. I'm sure the list of those waiting to return the favor is longer that both of my arms connected end to end. He'll not only get adequate care, he'll get more attentive and better care than he can get here at the hospital simply because at home he'll be the only patient and he'll have several caregivers instead of the other way around."

The four doctors sat quietly for a few minutes in thought before each of them thumbing through Mike's medical chart.

"Well," the lead doctor let out a breath, "I'm sure his wife will know if he's getting into trouble and will need to bring him back. I can't see a reason we shouldn't let her take him home tomorrow afternoon."

-0-

Laura took her boys and mother-in-law home by way of three stores to pick up everything she could think of to make her husband comfortable once he got home. Once they did get home Laura did her best to break up the sacks of food so that the boys could carry a small bag in by themselves. Dinner was fixed and eaten and the boys were bathed and put in pajamas but instead of a bed time story the boys were sat down on their own special chairs and Laura sat on the floor in front of them and they talked about the special care their daddy was going to need when he got home and all the things he wasn't going to be able to do for a long while.

The discussion on how long it was going to take Daddy's bones to get better led to Laura trying to explain how bones healed. "What you boys need to understand is that the glue to put bones back together has to be made inside the bones themselves."

Laura actually found one of her medical books that showed pictures and drawings of the process bones took to heal but that discussion was so far over the boys' heads. All Laura had really hoped to do was somehow get her children to understand that Daddy wasn't going to wake up the morning after he got home and be able to carry them around like he had nor was he going to wake up from his nap able to do those things. In the end she was pretty sure she had failed to achieve that goal.

After the boys were tucked into bed for the night Laura and her mother-in-law talked about the kinds of foods Mike was going to need for a couple of weeks and shared recipe ideas between them.

Elaine suggested keeping several lidded glasses of juice in the fridge so the boys could feel useful by taking Mike a glass of juice from time to time. "If they don't have to pour it then it will be easy for them and they won't make a big mess. Either you or I can check every so often and see if we need to fill more glasses."

"That's a great idea," Laura agreed. She even ran out to the store to pick up a bunch of lidded glasses and a several bottles of juice and while she was at it she got some smaller lidded containers and several packages of pudding and Jell-O mixes. When she got home she filled them all and put them in the refrigerator.

After one more run through the house to make sure it was ready, Laura went to bed and slept well.

-0-

Laura started talking to the boys while they drove to the hospital the next morning. She really wanted to be sure to be with Mike when the doctors made rounds this morning and she hoped by explaining that to them while they drove to the hospital that the boys would be quicker to settle in so that she could leave them.

Her efforts paid off and when she walked the boys to the day care center they let go of her hands at the door and waved.

"Bye, Mommy, go see Daddy," Mikey called over his shoulder.

"We call if need you," Gregory added.

Laura just stood there with her hands on her hips and smirked.

The doctors start their rounds in the ICU so it takes them a little longer to make it to the regular rooms. Laura was able to help Mike eat his breakfast before the doctors arrived as a team to check on their patient.

Laura's hopes and fears were confirmed when Mike was told he could go home that afternoon.

The rest of the morning was spent with a physical therapist that showed Mike some exercises he could do for his neck muscles but not his arm and shoulder yet. A dietitian spent some time with both of them talking about Mike's special needs in foods until his trachea and larynx healed. She repeated several times the need for Mike to take small bites and make sure he chewed them well before he swallowed.

"Sounds like the only thing I'm going to be allowed to do for the first two weeks is chew." Mike grumbled when the dietitian left. That rant had used up his voice for at least another hour.

"Mike you're doing so much better than anyone thought you would when you first got here. It's surprising that you don't still need the trach tube in. You need to realize that we nearly lost you and you need to give yourself some time to get back to being Superman again."

After lunch Grandma took the twins home in Laura's car to get the house ready for Daddy. They took Laura's car because it had the car seats for the boys. Laura would follow a couple of hours later in Grandma's car with Daddy.

It took extra time to load Mike in the car and place a rolled blanket to support his neck without hurting his shoulder. Then Laura took the scenic route home to avoid a couple of construction sites. At last Laura pulled into the driveway and they both saw the banner hung over the garage door.

_Welcome home, Mike_ had been painted in bright red and then Mike had been crossed out and Daddy was written at an angle to get it all in what was left of the paper.

Mike smiled and reached over to open the car door only to realize that he did need a little help to get out of the car.

The door to the house opened and "Daddy! Daddy!" was heard at the full volume two little boys could produce as they came running as fast as their legs could carrying them. They were followed by John and Marco who were determined to be faster and the two uncle firemen did manage to grab the boys up off the ground before they made it past the front fender of the car.

"Remember, you have to be really careful with your daddy," Johnny reminded the boys and when they finally stopped trying to kick him Johnny and Marco set the boys back on their feet.

Laura gave John and Marco an appreciative smile as she pulled Mike's suit case out of the back seat of the car. Her plan was to get the twins to work together to carry the suitcase in the house but—

While she was pulling the suitcase from the back seat Johnny stepped up to the passenger seat and started to offer Mike the help he needed to get out of the car.

"My Daddy," one of the boys pushed Johnny out of the way.

"Hold it just one minute young man, what do you think you're doing?" Laura scolded her son.

"My Daddy," the boy repeated in a much more intimidated tone and near to tears.

Laura knelt down in front of her boys and between them and their still injured father. "Yes he is your Daddy but that is no reason to be rude. Uncle Johnny is just helping your Daddy get out of the car.

"Me help Daddy,"

"Me too."

"Help Daddy get his feet out of the car," Mike rasped as he took in the tearing up on his son's faces. They loved him with all their little hearts and that was bringing a few tears to his eyes as well. For the first time since he woke up in the intensive care unit Mike began to realize that he almost lost this, that his sons and his wife almost lost him. He knew his boys didn't understand any of that but they had been separated from him in ways they never had before.

Mostly, Mike started to think about all the things he almost missed out on and even though he was silently listing them in his mind he knew there was no way he could ever know what all he might have missed if his friends hadn't managed to give him the help he needed.

Once Mike spoke, Laura and Johnny stepped back as two little boys excitedly moved around the car door to get to their daddy's feet.

There were smiles all around as Mike was able to see to it that his boys had quite a workout lifting his feet from the floorboard of the car. Once he was turned and had his feet on the ground the two boys picked his feet up again and put them over their shoulders as if they were going to drag him into the house by his feet. All the while John, Marco, Laura and now Cap, Roy and Chet stood by twisting their faces in all kinds of contortions to keep from laughing out loud.

"I don't think that's going to work there, buddy," Hank finally stepped in after seeing a wince on his engineer's face. "Daddy is going to need to be able to put his feet on the ground to be able to walk into the house."

Hank squatted down near the boys. He had learned a little bit about their determination and thought he'd try to figure out a way to be of help or at least think they were. "What we need to do now is take his hand and help him up."

Well there was only one hand that the boys could take since the other one was still secured to his chest. But being twins, the boys had learned how to share so they each took hold of two finders on Daddy's good hand and together they lifted his hand high above their heads. Johnny standing close by reached in from behind the boys and took hold of Mike's upper arm and pulled him onto his feet being careful not to dislodge his hand from the boys' grasp.

It was a slow trip into the house as Mike had to be careful to match his sons' small strides to keep from tripping over them.

"This is going to take longer than it took them to drive home," someone, Mike suspected it was Johnny, whispered as they moved.

"Can't do anything else for at least three weeks, what's the hurry?" Mike responded and was met with the smiles of everyone around him.

When they did reach the door they found Grandma filming what she called, "the triumphal return of the hero."

Mike just grumbled,"No hero here."

Once in the house Mike was helped into his recliner and he was pushed back with his feet up. A table had been set up next to his good hand and before he could ask why, two boys were standing next to him each one holding a glass of juice. Now came the next challenge. In order to not offend either boy Mike had to drink both glasses, at the same time. Mike managed to get the fingers of his good hand around both cups and Roy stepped forward to help him get the lids off the cups when Laura called across the room.

"He has to sit up straight before he eats or drinks anything to keep from aspirating."

All efforts to get lids off cups were stopped as Mike's recliner was pushed upright and straws miraculously materialized in the openings in the cups lids. Mike was able to get both straws in his mouth at the same time and with Laura reminding him to take it slow and take time to swallow Mike still made short work of emptying his juice. Before the glasses were empty two boys were racing each other to the fridge where Laura noticed that the cups of pudding and Jell-O that she had placed in the fridge as she made them were now rearranged into a random rainbow. The boys had had fun. Before Mike was able to set his first cups down the boys were standing at his side with fresh ones. As Mike worked to take hold of them the boys removed the straws from the first glasses and placed them in the next glasses for their daddy.

Laura was able to distract the boys for a moment by asking them to put the used pajamas their father has worn in the hospital in the hamper but when they returned they each brought their father a fresh glass of juice.

Mike started taking his time downing the juice but still after completing six glasses he was in need of, you guessed it, a potty drill.

Mike was actually helped to his feet and on his way before the boys noticed but as soon as he reached the bathroom door the boys were there too. John tried to stop them explaining that Daddy was just going potty but Mike let him know that it was alright.

Once in the bathroom all three of the Stoker boys sat on their own potties and while they took care of business the boys told their Daddy about all the different potties they'd made use of since they'd seen him last. Mike was well entertained by his sons' banter but had to listen real hard to try and understand. In the end he wasn't sure he knew all that they were talking about and blamed the pain meds for his inability to understand.

When all was finished the boys enjoyed helping Daddy wash his one hand and then helping him back to his chair. They then raced to the kitchen and informed Grandma that Daddy had been a good boy and went potty like a big boy and now he needed his potty treat.

Laura giggled and quietly told Elaine about the popsicles in the freezer.

Mike's brothers from the fire department stayed 'til after the pot luck dinner was consumed and then cleaned up after. While the boys were in the bathtub cleaning up for bed Mike was helped into bed as Laura helped to place all the special pillows to support his neck and keep his head raised to the proper height.

"I feel like a little baby," Mike grumbled as his head was braced with the pillows. "These are just like the pillows we used for the boys when they were first born."

"Mike, you are a baby, and worse than that you're a broken baby. Now you're just going to have to get used to being babied for a while until your glue dries completely," Laura teased. She knew it was hard on him to be so dependent and that he was uncomfortable and hurting enough to be grumpy. "I can always take you back to the hospital."

"Sorry. No I want to stay home please." Mike remembered that this wasn't a piece of cake for his wife and friends to have to take care of him either. But he also knew that they loved and cared for him as much as his sons did.

"Then stop fighting us.

"I'll be good."

Mike was just succumbing to the pain pills and sedatives when the boys came in to tuck him in. Laura, Roy and Cap stood by as they made sure the blanket was pulled up around him and explained that he needed to be propped up on the special pillow so his glue could dry the right way.

The boys accepted that and started to climb on the bed to give their daddy a night-night kiss. Cap and Roy quickly picked the boys up and held them in the proper position to give their daddy a kiss on his cheek but the boys corrected them. "NO, on the hair."

Laura snickered and the two firemen complied. Once the kisses were presented, on the hair, the boys rubbed their daddy's leg as they left the room. They just weren't tall enough yet to be able to reach his back.

Unca Johnny told a bed time story but it didn't come with pictures so they had a hard time staying focused on it. They actually fell asleep before he was finished and Laura carefully carried them off one at a time without waking them.


	17. Chapter 17 Taking Care of Daddy

Taking Care of Daddy

The next morning Laura had to go back to work. Hank met her at the door as she was leaving to take the boys to the DeSoto's on her way to work.

Laura gave Hank an appreciative hug followed by a report on the rough night Mike had.

"I should have known he wasn't ready for me to sleep in the same bed with him. He did have a couple of nightmares last night, I'm sure you understand. See if you can get him to talk about it. It's so hard when he can only say a few words before his voice gives out. I'm not sure he's up to writing yet but I left him a notebook and pen.

Hank was busy all morning helping Mike up and down and walking him around. When Roy and Johnny came to take the afternoon shift they brought two small boys with them.

"They have been worried about their daddy all day. We can't distract them with anything," Roy explained.

"Chet's bored to the gills too," Johnny spoke up. "He and Marco will be here in a little while to try and entertain the boys. Well at least as much as Chet is able. They've stopped at the library to pick up a bunch of books to read to the boys, that's something Chet can do."

Hank watched as the boys went in and checked on their father. They were good not to disturb him as he sat in his recliner with his eyes closed trying to concentrate on something other than the pain he was in. They then noticed that his cup on the table at his side was empty so they quietly raced to the kitchen to get two full ones, stopping only to give Grandma a hug.

"I'm glad you're here," Hank began to talk with Roy and John with concern in his voice. They listened closely. "Mike's been having a little trouble in the bathroom, Laura has him on stool softeners and he's been drinking prune juice."

Johnny sighed in some relief that it wasn't worse. "Unfortunately that's a side effect of the pain meds."

"Yeah, I know that and so does Mike, so he's not taking his pain meds, he says at least not until he's able to go to the bathroom but he's not looking so good and he's actually getting light headed more without them."

"Better check his vitals," Roy said as John nodded his head in agreement and both men went to work.

Johnny was able to explain to Mike that he understood what he was going through and that if he would take half of a dose of pain meds it would help him relax enough to let the other stuff he was taking do its job better. Mike agreed and was able to relax better.

Mike was just starting to feel the effects of the pain meds when Chet and Marco arrived. Mike used what little voice he had to ask Chet how he was doing before motioning, by pushing his chair upright and then pointing to where he needed to go, that he needed help up to the bathroom.

Just as the day before as soon as Mike reached the bathroom door the boys were there to go with him. Just as the day before they talked to their daddy as they took care of business and when the boys were done Mike used up his voice to tell them to go ahead he needed a little more time.

Five men, one worried mother and two little boys huddled close to the bathroom door.

"I think Daddy's poop is stuck," little Gregory talked to Roy quietly.

Roy stooped down and put his arm around the boys' shoulders. "Daddy's going to be alright because Mommy's given him some medicine to make him all better."

When success was achieved in the bathroom it was achieved with a loud rumble, a couple of loud rumbles in fact, followed by a slightly quieter sigh of relief. The five men echoed with their own sighs of relief.

When the door to the bathroom was opened again two little boys were standing in front of it. "Yeah, yippee, you go poop in the potty!" as they clapped their hands excitedly and jumped up and down in front of their daddy.

Mike, having no voice left, just turned red.

As the men helped their friend and brother back to his chair the boys raced to the kitchen to get Daddy's potty treat. Grandma, knowing the drill pulled out two popsicles giving one to each boy. She knew this was a big enough deal that her son deserved two potty treats.

Chet and Marco were able to entertain the boys with the books they brought from the library. But they had to sit on the stair so the boys could see when daddy needed more juice and it was noticed that they looked nearly every time a page was turned to see if the juice glasses were empty.

Laura arrived home from work just as dinner was going on the table. She received a report from Roy about Mike taking bigger bites than he should and gagging slightly on his lunch. Laura saw to it that one of the toddler spoons had been placed for Mike to help him remember to keep his bites small to keep him from choking.

This made eating slow and tiresome to someone who had pretty well tired himself out trying to do more than he should. By the time he had eaten half of his dinner Mike was too tired to continue to feed himself but Laura knew he needed to eat more than he had. Laura started spoon feeding Mike but the boys were not to be outdone. They grabbed spoons for themselves and started feeding Daddy.

John, Roy and Marco helped Mike's mom clean up after dinner. Laura sat at the table and held one son to keep him from falling as he sat on the table next to Daddy's plate and spoon fed him. Chet sat on the other side of Mike and did the same with the other boy while Laura talked to her boys about slowing down and making sure Daddy got a drink between bites.

"Here come fire truck, open door so they save people." Little Mikey chatted as he zigzagged the spoon he was holding in front of Mike's face.

"Here come airpain to give water to fire." Gregory flew his spoon at Mike's mouth. Everyone managed to keep their giggles silent. They didn't want to humiliate Mike and they understood that he was getting too tired to eat and eating such small bites was tiresome, but they had to admit the boys were cute.

Laura managed to slip Mike's pain pills in with his drinks of water and by the time he finished his dinner Mike was feeling pretty relaxed as well as being well fed.

"Let's go get you cleaned up and put to bed," Laura suggested as she set each of her sons down on the floor. Laura then took Mike's good arm and pulled it around her shoulders and started him toward the master bathroom. The boys fell in behind giving their support by placing their hands on the back of Mike's legs and pushing lightly.

"Do you need any help?" Johnny offered noticing himself just how relaxed Mike was.

"We do it," one of the boys defended his right to help his father.

"I think we've got everything under control here," Laura added with a wink. "I'll holler when we're ready to position him into bed. I'm hoping to have him relaxed enough that he'll need a little help."

Mike was helped into the master bathroom and before he was seated on the bath chair in the middle of the room a large towel was wrapped around his waist and his bottoms were dropped to the floor. Once Mike was seated with the towel covering his private parts Laura instructed the boys to lift Daddy's feet carefully and take the pajama bottoms and underwear the rest of the way off and put them in the hamper. As the boys worked with Mike's feet Laura stripped off his pajama top and started to remove the strapping that was holding his arm in place. Laura then started to fill the bathroom sink with warm water while the boys retrieved the dish pan she had directed them to and placed it at Daddy's feet.

Using a large glass Laura added a couple of inches of water to the dishpan along with a good squirt of baby shampoo and instructed the boys to each wash one of Daddy's feet and legs.

While talking the boys through their assigned task and reminding them to get between Daddy's toes and not to tickle his feet Laura washed and started to massage Mike's back and chest area being careful around his injuries and checking out all of his incisions. There were a few red marks from the braces and a need to change the bandages on his incisions but as she massaged she felt Mike lean more and more against her body and could feel his muscles soften in relaxed bliss.

While Laura was applying a coating of baby powder to Mike's body she instructed the boys to push the dishpan against the tub and then how to dry Daddy's legs. Then while she pulled Mike's body against hers so that she could support his strained neck Laura talked the boys through the process of helping Daddy get his clean underwear and pajama bottoms on over his feet.

"Daddy's panies have pocket!" Mikey discovered as he was positioning his father's briefs to be placed over his feet.

Gregory moved in to examine his brother's find. "What you keep in pocket daddy?"

Both parents were giggling and turning red as Laura moved closer to hold Mike in a way to support his injuries and whispered in his ear. "Don't you dare undo all of my relaxing."

Laura then proceeded to explain the use for the special pocket and promised the boys when they were really good at going potty and went a month without any accidents that she would buy them some panties just like them. She was then able to coach them in helping her get Mike dressed again before she sent them out to get Roy and John to help move Mike into bed.

Of course they heard the boys announcing to everyone in the house about Daddy's special pocket. They had actually retrieved the pair from the hamper to examine more in depth when they left the bathroom.

When Roy and John came into the bathroom they were unable to hide their giggling but they were also relieved to see how relaxed Mike was. He wasn't drugged out of his gourd, he was able to respond to them but he was indeed very relaxed and as far as they could tell free of any real pain. All he really needed was a little extra support as he walked to the bed and sat down on the edge.

Before they were able to lift Mike's legs into bed and roll him over on his good side before pillows were placed to support him in that position, the boys were back. Mikey was holding the special story book that had been under his pillow for a few days.

Johnny knelt down in front of the young boy as Laura placed the pillows to support her husband. "Daddy's not going to be able to read you a story tonight, his voice hasn't healed enough yet. Would it be alright if I read the story to you Gregory?"

"I'm Mikey."

"I Gegoree," the other boy responded. Both boys were holding their ground and the book.

"Me read it to Daddy," Mikey declared and walked over to the other side of the bed and placed the book on the bed before trying to climb up.

"Me too," Gregory followed.

Mike gave an agreeing nod and John and Roy lifted the two boys onto the bed reminding each boy at least twice to be careful not to hurt their daddy.

Laura suggested placing a pillow to hold the book up right and as the boys positioned the book so that both they and Daddy could see it Laura started to rub Mike's legs in an effort to get them just as relaxed as the rest of him.

"Not seepy said bunny," Mikey started at the first page in the book.

"Go seep any how, play morrow." Gregory added then the page was turned as Mike looked on and smiled.

John and Roy were watching jealously as Mike responded to having his legs rubbed and then his feet massaged while he was being read to by two little boys that clearly loved their father. They both knew from the night before that when the story was finished the boys would want to give Daddy a night-night kiss and would need to be lifted in order to keep them from hurting Mike more.

"Daby Duck want to go swim, see fishes legs grow." Mikey started again.

"They tails gonna fall off and need to put banaids on." Gregory told his part as Mike laughed at the interpretation but not as much as he laughed at the look on John's face when he moved so that he could look over the boys shoulder and read the book himself.

"No more noise," Mikey recited again shaking his finger as he imitated the mother hen.

"Go seep," Gregory added.

"All go seep,"

"You's keeping all my seepy bunnies wake."

"Not seepy"

"Shhhh" both boys shushed together.

"Do do do," Mikey crowed bringing quiet giggles all around.

"Shhhhhhhhh" the boys shushed again together holding their fingers over their mouth.

"Nigh-nigh."

"Nigh-nigh."

Then the book was closed and the boys started to move over to give their daddy a kiss. John and Roy moved quickly to lift the boys and having been taught the night before, they held them so that they could give Daddy a kiss on the hair.

Laura gave Mike a kiss on the cheek and whispered in his ear. "Enjoy this while you can, once your better they'll be expecting you to take care of them."

She then herded her boys off to their bath while Roy and John said good night and turned out the lights as Mike drifted off to a peaceful sleep.


	18. Chapter 18 Epilogue

Epilogue

It was three and a half weeks later when Hank looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his desk at the sound of the bus stopping at the front of the station, not something that he often heard since people rarely used that stop.

He was pleased to see Mike walking toward the station. His arm was still in a sling but the sling was now on the outside of his shirt and hanging loose not secured to his chest under his shirt like he had needed it to be up until the last time he'd seen him.

Hank had been a regular at the Stoker home for the first two weeks or more after Mike was released from the hospital. But once Mike was able to get around on his own and wasn't taking as many pain pills, his firemen friends weren't needed as much. They really just got in the way of his twin two year olds taking care of him anyway.

Hank himself took to calling on a daily basis to kill some of the boredom. Now that his voice box was healing he could carry on a conversation for a few minutes at a time as long as the person he's talking to did most of the talking. For a while there you just had to understand that if he quit talking in the middle of a sentence that ment his voice had given out and you just had to do all the talking until you said good-bye. Lately his voice had started to squeak when it's about to give out. Mike reported that the boys think it's funny and try to get him to squeak his voice as often as possible.

Mike's mother had gone home by now so Laura dropped the boys off at the DeSoto house in the mornings except when she worked the late shift. Mike picked them up in the afternoon but since he hadn't been cleared to drive yet, Mike walked the boys the two blocks back to their own home. Roy walked with them the first few times just to make sure Mike was handling things well, but after he went back on shift, Mike walked with the boys alone and that was the end of it.)

Mike started physical therapy three days ago and was looking forward to getting out of the house for more than just a walk around the block. Having his arm tied down has been hard on him and every one that talks to him usually spends some time telling him how lucky he is that his arm and shoulder broke instead of his neck. There just wasn't a lot he could do with only one arm and when he tried to even use a few fingers on his tied down hand to stabilize something, he paid for it.

Now that he was able to talk more, Mike was visiting with the department psychologist. As Hank watched him walk to the station he wondered how that was going.

"Hey, it looks like the arm is getting better," Hank greeted as he held the front door open for his friend.

"Yeah, they've taken to moving the elbow and shoulder around to keep it mobile," Mike reported as he stepped through the door. "They still insist that they do all the moving because if I use my muscles to do it, things will get pulled on that aren't supposed to be yet. Laura usually gives me another work out when she gets home and they just commented at therapy that I'm making more progress than they expected me to so I think it's doing me good.

Hank noticed a rubber ball in Mike's casted hand and as he talked he was squeezing it from time to time.

"How are things going with the boys?"

"Fine. They ask me every morning first thing after they wake up if my glue is dried yet and then again every time I pick them up from JoAnne. I think their impatience is making me more impatient."

"How are you handling things now that your mother has gone home?"

"Okay really. Laura keeps stuff in the fridge for me to eat and sees to it that I'm taken to the library on a regular basis for a supply of reading material. Chet was actually assigned to drive me to my first physical therapy appointment as part of his light duty. Then he spent the afternoon at my place and we talked mostly, some about the snakes and all but mostly other stuff. I'm able to do laundry now. Takes me ten times longer than it would with two working arms but it's something to do and that beats doing nothing. Tried jogging the other day but that was a big mistake."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" Hank questioned with a smirk.

"Oh, about two steps."

"So what brings you here? Is there anything you need me to do for you?"

Mike grinned. "Well, I'm not expected to pick up the boys for another four hours and the bus goes right by here so I thought I'd stop in and see if you could use a one armed engine polisher."

"Well I think the engine is well waxed and polished by now. They're just cleaning up after lunch but I think we could scrounge up a couple of cups of coffee."

The two men left the office toward the day room. "My boys tell me that I've been volunteered to help you fix your potty house," Mike joked as they walked.

"Sorry about that but no one could convince them that there weren't potties in the shed. Finally, Kenneth just told them it was broken. How is it that the boys don't know what a lawn mower is?"

"Oh, we call it a grass cutter at our house."

"That makes sense."

"When I was in the hospital did Gage really,-"

"It was the urinal in the men's room," Hank interrupted. "The boys just thought it was a sink."

"I can believe that one."

As they walked through the engine bay Mike noticed that his engine really was freshly shined, the kind of shine that either meant an inspection or discipline. Mike had to wonder which.

When they walked into the day room Mike was greeted warmly but no one dared to slap him on the back.

Mike was seated at the table and delivered a fresh cup of coffee as he told the crew about half of the things he had already told the Cap. Then he had one little favor to ask.

"Hey Gage, do you think it would be possible to bring the boys by one of these days and give them a tour of your house?"

"MY house?" Johnny was concerned and confused, mostly confused. "Why on earth do you want to give your kids a tour of my house?"

"Well, see Chet's been hanging around the last while and he told the boys that one of the names for the bathroom is a 'Johnny house'. Well, let's just say the boys are worrying a lot about where you sleep and where you cook your meals and stuff like that."

The room roared with laughter as Johnny scratched the side of his head. "Leave it to Chet. Just leave it to Chet."

The thought of Mike's two impressionable young boys worrying about him was enough for John to stop by the Stoker home the very next afternoon. He'd have gone by on his way home from work but he knew the boys would be with JoAnne by then and he wanted to go home and clean up a little before he brought guests in to see his house.

Knowing Mike wasn't cleared to drive yet and that Laura was pulling an extra shift at the hospital to cover for another doctor who was out sick, John called to tell Mike that he was coming to pick him and the boys up for dinner at his place.

He drove the Rover to the Stoker home then drove the Stoker car with the car seats in it back to his place with his guests. The boys were animated and talking amongst themselves as he drove and Johnny marveled that he couldn't understand a thing the boys were saying. Mike looked like he had out done himself a little and was hurting some but he wouldn't admit it.

When they arrived at Johnny's apartment the boys were allowed to run around and explore the place while Johnny made a quick dinner of Macaroni and Cheese and Pizza. In order to keep his offspring out of trouble Mike put them to work setting the table while he repeatedly thanked Johnny for the outing and dinner. Before dinner the boys were lead to Johnny's bathroom to take care of business and wash up for dinner.

When dinner was done and the boys were enjoying a scoop of ice cream one of the boys made it known that they hadn't seen everywhere in Johnny's place yet.

"Where do you seep?" John wasn't sure whether it was Mikey or Gregory as he hadn't even begun to be able to tell the two apart. Once the dishes were set in the sink however, John led the boys to a closed door and opened it to reveal his bedroom, complete with a newly made bed.

"Wow, your bed is really big," one of the boys exclaimed.

"Well, I'm kind of a big boy," Johnny responded. He had thought to say that sometimes he shared it but then thought better of giving the boys any ideas.

"Looky," one of the boys pointed to the dream catcher hanging in front of the window of the room.

"We have one of them too." The other boy declared, "our Momma maked it for us. Did your mommy make yous one, too?"

"Yes, my Momma made that for me when I was a baby," Johnny responded with warm feelings as he looked at the dream catcher in ways he hadn't done in recent weeks.

"You know what that means?" the boy asked but before Johnny could answer the young boy did. "That means yous a special boy and you mommy loves you berry, berry much."

John hung his head to hide the moisture building up in his eyes. Once he had things under control he nodded his head and gave the boys a smile. "I think you're right."

After Mike and his boys were returned home and John had helped give them their baths since Mike couldn't lift them in and out of the bathtub, John returned home and walked straight into his bedroom. Now alone he looked at his precious dream catcher and remembered the words spoken by one very small boy.

"That means yous a special boy and you mommy loves you berry berry much."

Alone now John could let his emotions out, he so missed his mother. John was sure there were plenty of people in his life who would disagree but he knew that to his mother he had always been a very special boy. The special ornament he had long cherished was only one of the things she had made for him to show him how very, very much she loved him.

John took it down to give it an overdue dusting and once it was cleaned he held it close to his heart and wrapped his arms around it.


End file.
